Open Up
by Mizutaka
Summary: [CH 9!] Post KHI AU fic in which a simple dream shatters the calm after the whole Kingdom Hearts episode. Suddenly, a shell like Riku is back, along with King Mickey everything is becoming nothing and ‘mutatio’ seems to be a major key in it all.
1. Always On My Mind

Hmm, my first Kingdom Hearts fic . . . hopefully it isn't as horrid as I think it is. So please excuse an out-of-characterness, I think I messed up Wakka and Tidus . . . an who knows about Sora. Urg, I hate not having someone to edit my writings over the summer - curse everyone for going on vacation and just leaving me here! -_- Anyway, this is a bit of an experiment on my part, let's just say I was attempting to "paint a picture" as I wrote this, so please forgive me if it is a bit wordy.   
  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Really, I wish I did, but no. Disney and Squaresoft have the joy of calling that wonderful game theirs - not me. So don't sue, because I don't have any money to give you. In fact, I want some money so I can go buy a KH artbook . . . not to mention the Platinum Edition of Final Mix . . . *sobsob*   
  
**Story Key:**   
italics = emphasis   
". . ." = speaking   
* * * = scene switch   
  
Anyway, onto the fic . . .   
  
  
  
**Open Up   
Part I: Always On My Mind**  
  
He stood rigidly on the crest of the small island, chestnut hair blowing violently across his forehead, the icy torrent of the sea swooping up into his skin like a thousand burning needles, electric blue eyes flashing with the burst of lightning that spread across the dark sky. It was the peak before a storm - the warning before a rippling downpour of sleet flooded the islands.  
  
_Sora . . ._  
  
The name was an unspoken whisper and yet he who stood upon the island with the shifting sand beneath his feet heard every syllable drift from the lips of the speaker. The boy named for the sky turned lightly, absently from reflex and stared into unnaturally expressive sea-green pools framed by silver.  
  
Sora stared at his friend, eyes widening as he truly realized that this was Riku standing here with him in this storm, not some illusion dancing in front of his eyes teasingly.  
  
The older boy suddenly reached out, his pale fingers feeling for something as he held his palm out to Sora, almost as if he were going to touch the boy who stood a mere meter away from him. A look sheer desperation spread across Riku's normally passive face as he splayed his fingers into an orient fan.  
  
Before he could stop himself, Sora rushed forward clumsily, pressing his own sun-kissed palm against the white skin of his friend's and his fingers curled tightly between Riku's. Bright blue locked with an equally sharp green as an instant cold raced through the entwined hands and underneath the skin into bone, a stinging sensation bursting forth as tendrils of darkness in shades of violet and ebony began to wind.  
  
The chosen Keyblade master jerked his hand back at the black touch, gasping in shock as he looked down to see fingers of the dark stretching up and around him, pulling downwards. Looking back towards his companion, Sora's dry lips parted as Riku's eyes closed in utter exhaustion, his face lax as he fell forward into Sora, disappearing into nothingness just as the blue-eyed boy would have caught him with open arms.  
  
The chocolate-haired boy's eyes widened considerably at the loss and he screamed silently, the name of his friend echoing in the quiet rush of the storm.  
  
_Riku!_  
  
The ground beneath Sora vanished into scatterings of dust as it was devoured by the growing darkness and he found himself falling, reaching up frantically with open fingers in an attempt to end his downward spiral into the dark. But nothing returned the grasp.  
  
His fall was suddenly halted as he was plunged into the freezing, salt waters surrounding the small Destiny Islands - the harsh liquid exploding through his lungs viciously, a sharp burning sensation ringing through the base of his skull. Gasping, he pulled himself up, his arms aflame from the sudden exertion, breaking the surface of the glassy surf and into the heart of the raging storm.  
  
Crisp air ringing with a metallic tang entered Sora's sodden lungs and he gagged, liquid dripping from his lips as he treaded the churning waters. He looked around wearily and once again his eyes locked with aquamarine, just as the next swell crashed over his bobbing head.  
  


* * *

  
In a dusky cavern on an island in the middle of nowhere, a boy called Sora cried out, his voice echoing as he sat up rigidly, reaching forward for something that only he could see.  
  
"Sora!" a girl by the name of Kairi cried, shaking his shoulder lightly and returning him to reality, sapphire eyes wide in apprehension at his sudden outburst. "Wake up - you're having a nightmare!"  
  
The boy in question gasped for oxygen, his outstretched hand falling limply to his lap and the fingers of the other playing with the smooth skin at his throat as if the water from his dream was still burning through the tubes there.  
  
He looked over at his close friend and inwardly smirked at her disheveled appearance - auburn hair messy falling across two wide eyes set in her pale face, tartan pajama top slipping down lazily and showing off the flawless skin of her right shoulder. She continued to stare at him and absently pulled the stubborn clothing up only to have it fall back down to its original position. At this Sora did smile weakly.  
  
"Are you all right? You were having a horrible nightmare," she questioned sincerely, reaching up to rest a hand on his shoulder. She frowned slightly at a thought, and continued, musing to herself. "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have a camping trip here in the Secret Place after all - I know you don't really like it here at night. I should probably just have let you go home and sleep in your own bed while you're here. I mean, you haven't slept in your own room for ages and-"  
  
"It's all right," the boy interrupted, catching her attention as a full-blown smile flashed across his features. Kairi returned the smile lightly and her eyes softened as Sora shrugged off her sympathetic hand from his shoulder. "This place doesn't bother me much at all and you have every right to want to spend some time together since I haven't been around much, searching for the door to Kingdom Hearts and all."  
  
At this thought Sora's eyes seemed to darken to a deep shade of royal blue and he fluidly pulled his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around them tightly as he hunched over, fingers tracing invisible patterns across the fabric of his pajamas.   
  
"Sora," the Kairi started tentatively, catching his attention. She unconsciously pulled her hands into her large pajama sleeves, fiddling with them as he looked up and made eye contact, chilling her slightly. "Are you all right? What was your dream about? Did . . . did it have to do with Kingdom Hearts?"  
  
The boy looked down for a second and then forward at where the glowing keyhole of his home resided. He silently contemplated her question, his thoughts running wild at the odd dream, before he turned back to his red-headed companion.  
  
"You know, Kairi, I never seem to remember my dreams - in fact the last one I can remember having was right before that whole mess with the Heartless. But I remember this one too . . . and it was about Riku," he said, confusion quite evident in his tone as he watched the reaction from his friend. Kairi's brow knitted as she tilted her head to the side, a curtain of hair hiding her left eye from view.  
  
"Riku?" she questioned with a sigh, the mere mention of his name casting a veil of sadness over her clear features.  
  
She missed Riku terribly - he had been her friend and now he was lost in Kingdom Hearts, the world of the Heartless. Kairi had felt a trace of Riku the one time she had seen the door to Kingdom Hearts, but it was only afterwards that she had learned what had happened to her friend and she was truly sorry that everything had to end the way it did.  
  
"Yeah," Sora replied, looking at the spidery lines lacing his palms. He frowned at them as he absently tried to remember which line was the one that was supposed to represent life, wondering if his was short or long. "And I think that maybe, this is a sign. Maybe we'll finally find Riku and King Mickey!"  
  
"You really think that we'll finally find Riku?" Kairi asked earnestly, grasping Sora's hand, diverting his attention towards her sparkling eyes. For a second her strong features were full of hope before her sweet voice dropped an octave into despair. "Do you really think that after all this time we'll get him back?"  
  
"Yeah, Kairi. I do."  
  
At Sora's brief, yet filling, response, a small smile slowly spread across Kairi's face, like the breaking of dawn, lightening her features immensely and sending a warm glow across them. It was obvious that the conversation had ended, neither of the teens wanting to break their moment of hope with petty words. But before they would snuggle back into the bedding that was spread haggardly across the ground in the Secret Place and drift into a dreamless slumber, Kairi had one last thing to say.  
  
"I'm so glad."  
  


* * *

  
"It's so good to have you back Sora! If only for a few days!" Selphie cried happily as she clamped her arms around the said boy's waist, hugging him fiercely before pulling back and eyeing him. Tilting her head to the side and placing a finger to her chin in a sign of intense thought she suddenly grinned brightly as a brilliant idea came to mind. "Want to have a duel? I'm sure I'll be able to beat you this time - you haven't had a proper fight with me in three years and I've been practicing! Plus, I finally got a real pair of nunchaku!"  
  
Sora laughed, blue eyes sparkling with refrained joy at his old friend, inwardly admiring her unabashed cheerfulness and the fact that the only thing that had changed over the years was her appearance. She was no longer a little girl, but a pretty young woman with glowing, emerald eyes and a bright yellow jumper that could be spotted halfway across an island.  
  
"Sora finally comes to visit and the first thing you do is ask him to fight you?" a voice interrupted dryly and Sora could easily picture the speaker standing with a single eyebrow cocked, staring at the two with an air of poorly hidden amusement. "Really, how hospitable Selphie."  
  
"Tidus!" the girl shrieked as she rounded about and viciously whacked the speaker on head with her fist, looking all the mightier as she glared down at him. "You loser! This is our one day to hang out with Sora before he leaves again! Can't you see all the possibilities that are just begging for me to take advantage of them?"  
  
Sora laughed brightly at the interaction between the two, possible events of upcoming hours of the day playing through his mind. He was planning to spend a careless day full of fun with three friends he hadn't seen in years, namely Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka. Kairi would have joined them, but had to take care of some things and probably wouldn't be showing up until later in the afternoon, that is, if she showed up at all.  
  
However, despite his outward appearance, a tinge of worry was sparked in the back of Sora's mind as he absently eyed the dark clouds that were spreading with an unnatural swiftness across the horizon like some disease. It was a sign that told of a violent storm rearing its ugly head long before the day ended.  
  
"You just want to show off your nunchaku since Sora hasn't gotten his head beaten in with them yet," Tidus told Selphie smartly, jerking Sora from his reverie. He rolled his eyes playfully at the fuming girl as he tenderly fingered the area where she had whacked him, before turning to his other friend and blinking multiple times as he took in the sight.  
  
"Hey Sora. Whoa, you look different . . . go figure since three years have gone by, but whatever. Wakka will show up sometime later, he probably went to say hi to his girlfriend before coming here, so meanwhile, what do you think we should do?"  
  
"His girlfriend?" Sora all but coughed out in shock, disbelief painted across his face as he stared at the blonde in shock, mouth hanging open comically. He didn't have anything against Wakka, but in all his years he had never expected the guy to get a girlfriend. Wakka was just too, well, Wakka-ish. "Wakka has a girlfriend?"  
  
"Yeah," Tidus responded, rolling his eyes as he folded his arms, looking as if he didn't believe this fact either. "We've only seen her once, but her name's Lulu and she moved here about a year ago. You know how the Destiny Islands are a chain? Well apparently there's some small island that no one here really knows about named Kismet that's on the east side of those twin islands - Unmei and Shukumei. That's where she's supposed to be from."  
  
"Tidus won't admit it because he's a mighty sixteen-year-old now, but he's afraid of her," Selphie whispered over Sora's shoulder none too softly, silently reveling in the glower that was bestowed upon her. She shrugged lightly before stepping around Sora, placing herself in front of him, clasping her hands together behind her back, and leaning forward as if she had some big secret, before continuing. "We've only seen her once, but she was creepy - she's really pale and wears all black. It's kinda weird because she's like the exact opposite of Wakka. But you know, love conquers all!"  
  
Sora's brow furrowed at this comment as he was thrown into a loop of thought. Love conquers all? What a Selphie-like thing to say. But what kind of love could conquer all; romantic, paternal, or the kind between friends? Because it sure didn't seem to be working for any of his problems. At that moment the brunette came to a solid conclusion: love doesn't conquer all - it can't conquer all, and whoever could think that it could, would have to be ignorant of the world.  
  
"So, what do you wanna do?" Selphie asked innocently, jerking Sora from his thoughts and back into reality.  
  
"Yeah, Sora, we have to do something while we wait for Wakka to stop swooning over Lulu," Tidus said, continuing where Selphie had left off. "And since you're the guest of honor, you can pick something!"  
  
"I think that," Sora started, dragging the last word out as he considered the many things he could do with his friends, the serious thoughts drifting from his mind. He looked to the sky for a moment before continuing heartily. "I think that despite what Tidus says, I'll take you up on that challenge Selphie. I haven't had a proper duel for a long time and I guess I should see these grand nunchaku of yours."  
  
"All right!" his opponent cried, punching a fist into the air before she stuck her tongue out at Tidus in a childish display of triumph. "Let's go - and don't hold back because I'm sure not going to!"  
  
To say the battle was uneventful would not have been much of an understatement. Yes, Selphie's fighting abilities had improved dramatically over the years and yes her bright red nunchaku were rather dangerous as Sora would soon have bruises. But overall the battle was rather dull and an easy win for the boy because of his experiences gained due to the fact that he wielded a giant key. To put it lightly, Slephie was beaten in a mere seventeen point four seconds and not happy with it at all.  
  
"Erg!" she grunted angrily, stomping her left foot to the ground and causing a spurt of sand to jump upward from the impact. She then directed a piercing green glare towards her opponent who laughed gaily in response.  
  
"Good fight, ya?" a voice questioned Tidus at the sidelines, the sandy haired blonde looked up to his taller companion for a second skeptically, not at all phased by the sudden appearance as it had become normal ever since Lulu had appeared, before looking back towards the pouting Selphie.  
  
"If you consider Selphie getting pounded unmercifully by our long-lost Sora, then I guess so."  
  
Sora meanwhile was grinning brightly as he tucked a chunk of chocolate colored hair behind his right ear, feeling much happier then he had felt in quite a long time. So happy in fact that for just a moment, he forgot everything that was plaguing him, everything that was burrowed deep inside of him. In fact, when it came back, it took him quite a while for him to recognize the stinging feeling that bit through his soul unmercifully like a hot knife cutting through golden yellow butter.  
  
And as he glanced around, seeing the smiling, tan faces and the crisp, green plant life he was sad.  
  


* * *

  
They stood together on the small island adorned with the paopu tree, rough sand slipping through their toes, coating their bare feet. A slight wind blew, not enough to cause the course grains to lift, but strong enough that Kairi frowned as she eyed the grey clouds that hung heavily over the island.  
  
"I have such fond memories of this place," the red-head murmured, suddenly stepping forward and twirling lightly on the balls of her feet in a simple, yet pretty dance amidst the gossamer curtains of sand that flew through the air from her footfalls.  
  
Sora had watched his friend with care, his lips curved in a small, sad smile, a delicate pain spread across his features as she spun in the sand, memories of this place, this small island flooding his mind. When she caught a glimpse of the look on his face, Kairi stopped her dance, clasping her hands in front of her in a graceful sweeping motion as she turned towards the brunette.  
  
She titled her head to the side for a slight second, absently tucking loose stands of hair behind her ear as they fell forward to block her vision. She gazed at him judgingly, her deep blue eyes not at all hiding the concern that bubbled from within.  
  
"It's hard for you to be here, on these islands, isn't it? You've been preoccupied all day, so you haven't noticed it that much, but it's been weighing heavily on your heart, hasn't it?" she asked tentatively, eyeing him, her face somber. She turned to the sea, hair blowing lightly across her pale skin in the tainted breeze. "The last time you were here, we were making a raft in hope of visiting other worlds, all three of us, together. But now, you haven't been here in years and it's not the same because there're only two of us now and you can't help but see him here too, can you?"  
  
"Yeah, Kairi," Sora replied, eyes soft and wet with contained sorrow. He turned his sight to the crashing waves as if looking for something and his fine profile frowned slightly as whatever he was looking for was nowhere to been seen. "I'm sorry, that I'm acting like this on a reunion when I haven't seen you for years. But, even though I know that without a doubt that I'm gonna find Riku, wherever he is, I can't help but be sad here. This place - everything here holds a memory for me."  
  
"I understand what you mean," the girl murmured as she turned back towards him. "I try not to be, but I can't help but be sad sometimes too."  
  
It was with those words that the two friends finally acknowledged the swirling, dark clouds that circled over the small islands with a threatening air. A salt tinted wind blew lightly through the waxy plant leaves of some of the trees, scattering sand and loose pieces of bark through the sky.  
  
"We haven't had a storm like this in ages," Kairi murmured to herself in slight confusion, looking up at the now churning mass, her brow furrowing and her lips parting slightly. "It's weird - how we've managed to have such good weather for the three years you've been gone. But once you're back, look what happens."  
  
The red-head glanced at her companion, who stared outwards at nothingness - seeming to take no note the clouds that blocked out the sky of perfect blue and hovered over the island in a thick blanket of contempt.  
  
"You know what Kairi?" Sora started, his voice deep as he stared out into the ocean, not at all caring that this storm had manifested out of thin air just for him. He paused for a moment as a crack of light burst across the sky, shooting a metallic taste through the air that was followed by a deep reverberating that shook the sands. "The last storm I can recall being caught in, was quick and not normal - just like this one. And I stood on this island, next to the paopu tree with Riku, right before that whole mess started."  
  
"Then maybe this too is a sign!" Kairi exclaimed, wheeling around and grasping Sora's shoulders, jerking his attention towards her. It took but a second for the words to set in, but when they did, the wielder of the Keyblade stared at his friend, his two cerulean eyes wide with the prospect.  
  
"A sign of what?" he whispered, the words falling to deaf ears, as neither he nor Kairi heard the sound. Conflicting voices took sides in that back of his mind, one screaming danger while another cried out in joy. In a split second he prayed with all his might that the second voice was right.  
  
"Just like your dream!" Kairi continued in a hushed voice, her excitement bubbling up, threatening to burst out in a colorful explosion. "It can't be a coincidence that just like the last time something big happened you had a dream followed by a storm!"  
  
Suddenly, a searing burst of _something_, something brilliant and unexplainable and altogether horrible, shot through their minds, like a thin line of metal wire piercing through their skulls, screaming for attention with its sharp bite. Unconsciously they each swung around, their twin sets of blue eyes locking upon a dark hole in the foliage, a passage that seemed so out of place, yet would always belong.  
  
Without any regard to what they were doing, Sora and Kairi ran forward in a desperate dash, the sand flying out from beneath their bare feet, spraying in the air like a thousand sparkling crystals. Something pulled at them as they each crawled through the dark opening and ran down the deep tunnel until they reached the open cave, littered with white drawings splayed across the stone.  
  
But the source of their attention, the thing that had called them to this spot, was the wooden door that stood in the back of the cave. Sora's hands unconsciously tightened until they turned a sickly shade of white and Kairi's face had lost all that resembled color, her lips a thin, white line.  
  
They watched in a horrified awe as the wood transformed in a brilliant flash of light, intricate marble replacing the once plain door and Sora's electric blue eyes widened at the sight, instantly recognizing the door for what it was - the path to the light.  
  
Kairi stepped forward fluidly, her curiosity overpowering her fear as she edged towards the door, Sora joining her in mere seconds. They watched silently, their vocal cords no longer working correctly as the door opened soundlessly, a pure light bursting forth with blinding intensity, causing their pupils to recoil into small dots of ebony as the light seared their eyes.  
  
And all froze as a shaded figure stepped from within.  
  
As soon as the silhouette was free of the entrance, the door slammed shut with a deep, resounding thud, the mysterious person swinging around towards the door in surprise at the sudden noise. The rich marble disappeared into nothingness once again, leaving a dull mahogany and as the figure turned to face them, Sora felt all the air leave his lungs.  
  
"Riku," Kairi gasped suddenly, clasping her hands to her suddenly dry mouth as she stared at the figure before her. Clad in a long black coat and thick treaded boots, his pale coloring contrasting sharply against the dark clothing, and silver hair growing several inches past his shoulders - the only thing she couldn't see were the aquamarine eyes hidden behind an inky black blindfold. "Oh God - Riku!"  
  
In a flourish of shock she rushed forward, water springing from her eyes in streams of crystal and threw her arms around the stoic man in a tight embrace, burying her face into the fabric of his coat.  
  
"Riku?" Sora questioned, repeating what his other friend had cried only moments before, a combination of sadness and joy lacing his cracking voice as he stared, unmoving and in shock. Impossible thoughts ran through his head quickly, exiting as soon as they entered and he stood speechless, unbelieving, watching as his former crush hugged his best friend as if this were all some cruel dream and he was going to disappear into a cloud of fine dust.  
  
However, the red-headed girl soon relinquished her hold on Riku and stepped back, staring up at him inquisitively. She reached out shyly, fingertips barely touching the black that hid his eyes from view as her face contorted into a deep shade of concern.  
  
"What happened?" she asked tentatively, tilting her head to the side, shading the soft azure eyes with an auburn veil as she brought her hand back, holding it to her chest as if she wanted to keep the faint touch in case this was all a dream. "Why are you wearing this blindfold?"  
  
At this moment, Sora's half-lidded eyes snapped open, dashing all thought from his mind as he rushed forward in a burst of unnatural speed to catch the limp body that fell forward to Kairi with a tragic grace.  
  
This time Riku did not disappear.  
  
**To be continued . . .**   
  
  
  
Mmmm, I just ate a big sandwich bag full of cherrios and now my stomach is all gurgly. Yes, isn't that nice? Anyway, Colors by Hikaru Utada is a beautiful song! Go download it! *sobs at the prettiness* Seems those cherrios made me hyper. Moving on to something with a point . . . so, how did everyone like the first part of Open Up? Sorry to say this, but if any of you have read any of my other stuff, you'll know that I am an extremely slow updater because I'm so picky about my writing . . . don't hurt me or anything please! Anyway, please be a good, happy person and click on the link below to write me a review because a) You know that you want to, and b) I'll love you forever! 


	2. Fragments Of Sorrow

Yay! The next part of Open Up! *hands out party hats* I'm sure everyone is happy and joyous because it's two months later! X_x I'm not even sure if I should mention that this is a record for me . . . oh, the sorrows of being a slow updater. Anyway, have fun, this should be interesting, I apologize for my butchering of Donald . . . I think he's the only one to show any major out-of-characterness because he's simply impossible to write I tell you. Arg. Yeah, so once again, make note that this story is an experiment on my part, I'm trying to "paint a picture" baby, so please forgive if this gets a bit wordy. Now let's read on!   
  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts. I don't, really, it's true. KH belongs to Disney and Squaresoft - not me. So don't sue, because I don't have any money to give you. In fact, I want some money but I spent it all on my Platinum Limited Edition of Kingdom Hearts Final Mix at ebay.com! It's so beautiful . . .   
  
**Story Key:**   
italics = emphasis/latin   
". . ." = speaking   
* * * = scene switch   
'. . .' = quotes   
  
Anyway, onto the fic . . .   
  
  
  
**Open Up   
Part II: Fragments Of Sorrow**  
  
Electric blue eyes fluttered open softly and stared up at an unfamiliar ceiling blankly in the dim light, trying to remember where exactly they were and how they had gotten there. This wasn't an unusual occurrence, as the owner of these eyes never seemed to sleep in the same place for two nights in a row, but as the memories of the night before rushed back to him, he sat up abruptly.  
  
It was still rather dark - the only light a faint, velvety glow coming from the entrance of the cave - and the only reason that Sora was awake at such an early hour would be due to the mental alarm clock that resided in the depths of his mind, planted there by the ever-strict Donald Duck. He blinked for a few moments, clearing his eyes of any sleep that still resided there and waiting for everything to come in focus as he directed his attention to the other side of the cave.  
  
Against the opposite cave wall slumped the slightly familiar form of his auburn-haired friend Kairi. Her head titled forward in what promised to be a painful position when she woke up and her clothing slightly rumpled, giving her an almost exhausted look, along with the dark rings born from stress swirling under her eyes like paint smeared on by a small child. He smiled lightly at the image before his eyes trailed to the side, seeking a pale form covered in a fuzzy, tomato red blanket.  
  
The storm had rolled in violently the night before, shaking the island down to the core with hot-white, flashes of light and rumbling thunder that caused sand lodged deep within the cracks of the cave to spiral downwards. It simply wasn't an option to attempt to get Riku back to Fate Island at the time, so Sora and Kairi had done the next logical thing.  
  
After recovering slightly from the shock, the pair had hauled Riku onto a thick, foam mat - evidence of the sleepover from the night before - stripped him of the heavy raincoat that he wore, and had covered him in blankets. The brunette and red-head had pretty much collapsed on opposing sides of the cave after that, watching Riku with wary eyes as long as they could before the fabled Sandman powdered them with his magical dust, sending them into a dreamless sleep.  
  
Yawning far wider than what seemed physically possible, making him look something like a lethargic cat, Sora stretched his arms out, grinning brightly as each kink was soothed by the morning ritual. To say the least, Sora was a morning person.  
  
As he softly got up, he grabbed the blanket thrown across him and stepped forward to Kairi, placing it lightly across her shoulders and smiling softly as he realized that earlier she had done the same for him. Then, with a final glance towards his unconscious friends, he turned towards the barely lit tunnel leading to the outside world and padded forward.  
  
Sora walked slowly down the tunnel that led to the Secret Place, running four of his fingers across the wall as both a guideline and a grip on reality. There were no sign of screaming outside of the cave, so he assumed that the storm must have diminished, fallen pray to itself in the night - but as he ducked beneath the glistening emerald leaves that hid the entrance of the cave, he was met with a most interesting sight.  
  
Shock gripped him with an iron hold.  
  
Shredded palm leaves loaded heavily with drops of dew were scatted across landscape, waving jaggedly in the light breeze to all who would pass by and several pieces of wood from the now lop-sided dock littered the beach in jagged, brown spikes. It was a disaster, but the sky, oh, the sky itself was a complete contrast to the destruction, a clear sheet of the thinnest of blown glass; shades of reds and oranges and golden yellows spilling across it dazedly in a kaleidoscope of color.  
  
During all of the years that the brunette had lived on the Destiny Islands, he had never seen this much ruin caused by a mere storm. Yes, everything had always been glazed with a crystal coating of sand, but never before had the trees been bare and the dock ripped to pieces. It was simply a miracle that no water had gotten into the Secret Place, soaking Kairi, Riku, and himself.  
  
He trotted down across the sand carefully, heading towards the dock and grimacing at the cracked seashells that littered the beach, wondering how many snails and crabs had died the night before - not to mention the pale, pink starfish that were scattered across the sand, groping wildly in the direction of the sea.  
  
However when he got to his destination, he was disappointed to find that he wasn't going to be able to paddle over to Fate Island anytime soon as neither his nor Kairi's boat was anywhere to be seen. In fact, the only thing left of their boats was the lower half of an oar, split harshly down the middle and floating in the shallow waters.  
  
He sighed at the sight, glaring half-heartedly as he turned and headed toward the Seaside Shack. Sora proceeded to stare in bewilderment for a moment at said Seaside Shack as the palm tree in which he had stolen a spotted seagull egg from three years prior had collapsed on top of it, causing part of the shack to cave in ungracefully.  
  
As he reached the building and eyed the miraculously untouched door, he contemplated whether it would be truly wise to attempt to get into the building. After deciding that he would rather risk getting smashed than swim across the channel to reach Fate Island, he tucked several stray strands of mahogany hair behind his ear and pushed.  
  
Sora winced and jumped back a good five feet as the whole structure menacingly creaked with a sharp whining noise and the tree crunched further into the roof. Starting wide-eyed for a moment at the shack, he realized that pushing the door inward was not going to have a positive effect, as it hadn't moved an inch. So, in a rather cautious manner, he edged slowly towards the building, slid his hands into the crack between the door and the shack, and pulled roughly.  
  
He found himself flying backward into the wet sand as the door jerked open, causing the shack to shudder and sand to fall through holes in thick, crystalline curtains. As he regained his composure, Sora crawled forward with the utmost care towards the shack, peering in at the disaster of sand, splintered wood, and waxy palm leaves, all shadowed by a glowing green circle.  
  
Using the caution he had gained over the years, the brunette creeped in silently, sweating lightly with the hair on the back of his neck standing at attention in his nervousness as he headed towards the Rest Point, slowly so he would not disturb the careful balance positioned throughout the building.  
  
A most peculiar thought struck Sora as he waded through the sand: would this sort of destruction have happened to the islands if they had not been torn to pieces and scattered across the skies last time he had seen such a prophetic storm?  
  
To tell the truth, Sora was so lost in this thought that he gasped in surprise as a cool and refreshing wave of crystal green light washed over him, relieving his fatigue and coloring his features as he crawled into the Rest Point. With a slight smile and a fleeting thought of transportation he found himself seated in the gummi ship he had build over the years, appropriately named the Tomodachi for the friends he had made and the friend he had been searching for.  
  
He stroked the control panel lightly, grinning as the colorful material bended according to his touches. It still amazed the brunette how gummi blocks were able to transport him across space and to other worlds and yet they were amazingly pliable and would wield to his every touch. However he soon abandoned this thought as he set the destination of Disney Castle in the controls and programmed the ship to operate in hyper drive.  
  
With a blur of light an a compressed sensation similar to what one feels when riding a roller coaster, Sora found himself floating outside the world of the Disney Castle - the castle itself a tall pillar of white and blue brick stationed upon the small round world.  
  
Glancing towards the onboard computer that showed him all of the Rest Points available, Sora selected the one titled Castle Courtyard. In the blink of an eye he found himself standing in a flower filled garden next to a very familiar dog man who seemed to be happily off in dreamland.  
  
If the chocolate haired boy had been new to this garden he probably would have found himself staring wide-eyed at the huge floral designs that were vividly colored and far too gaudy for his simple island tastes. However, he had been to this castle many times and without a single glance towards the garden itself he stepped towards Goofy and performed a simple electricity spell to wake up his friend.  
  
It was obvious that Sora hadn't been paying much attention to his spell casting, as he also managed to hit Donald, who had just entered the garden, with the spell and the duck proceeded to cry out - a squawking noise that was something of a combination between rapid stuttering and quacking. Goofy meanwhile, simply jumped a good inch and looked up with a lazy grin towards Sora and Donald.  
  
"Sora!" he said good-naturedly, stumbling up, as opposed to simply getting up, off of the ground and clasping a hand on said boy's shoulder. It still amazed the islander how Goofy managed to be completely uncoordinated when it came to life in general and yet got along just fine. "What're you doin' here? I thought you were gonna take a break?"  
  
"His break's over today," Donald told the knight as he shook his head in exasperation, fluffing his feathers slightly as he glanced towards Sora. "I didn't think you'd come back this early though."  
  
"Well, something happened, and that's the whole reason why I'm back earlier," Sora said, his voice suddenly urgent and serious, which immediately gathered the full attention of Donald and Goofy. "Riku came back; and that got me wondering. Donald, Goofy - has your King shown up again? Has he come back?"  
  
At this statement Goofy's cartoonish features literally lit up with a large grin and Donald frowned slightly and he crossed his arms across his chest.  
  
"Yeah! How'd ya know?" the dog man cried out as he punched the air in victory, metal helmet titling at a very precarious angle and ears flinging every which way in his exuberance - Donald could not help but roll his eyes at the sight. "King Mickey came back just last night!"  
  
"Really?" Sora asked, scattered thoughts throughout his mind getting all the more confusing as this statement settled.  
  
Why would Kingdom Hearts suddenly kick King Mickey and Riku out into the world that they originated from for no reason what so ever? Or was it that the two had somehow found a way out? But wasn't it true that the door to Kingdom Hearts could only be opened on the outside? Not that anyone had ever actually confirmed this, but still, if the door had opened, Sora surely would have been the first one to know about it.  
  
Donald nodded an affirmative before bring Sora back into the present as he stated his own opinion to the matter, "The King just came out of nowhere, mentioned something about '_mutatio_,' and went to his room. It was strange."  
  
"'_Mutatio_?'" Sora asked sharply, the word revolving in his mind rapidly. His brow furrowed in concentration as he wracked his brain, trying to figure out why the word sounded so strangely familiar. "What language is that and what does that mean?"  
  


* * * 

  
Kairi knelt down, carefully pushing needle fine strands of silver to the side as she placed the wet cloth across his pale forehead, water instantly draining from the towel into the dark fabric of the blindfold that hid his sharp eyes and dripping down the white sides of his face.  
  
She didn't dare remove the now soaking blindfold, for there had to have been some reason it was there, wrapped around him like some sort of lifeline, chaining him down to this world. Maybe it was to cover a horrible wound or mask the emptiness of blind irises or maybe even to shield his eyes from something he didn't want to see, she didn't know, but she wouldn't risk.  
  
She simply didn't know this Riku well enough.  
  
He was freakishly pale, far too pale to have seen the sun in years. It wasn't often that it snowed on the Destiny Islands, but once every few years was there'd be a surge of weird weather and it got cold enough. In fact, it had snowed the previous year, a whirling flurry of white - she wished Sora and Riku had been there to see it.  
  
Sure, it had been horribly cold and she had found herself sick with a somewhat moderate case of the flu for the next week, but seeing thousands of small ice crystals fall from the blanketed sky and form high drifts across the frozen sand - well, it was an experience she would never forget. But if her memory served her right, Riku's skin was not a shade darker than the snow itself, and she wondered that if it had decided to snow any time soon, would she lose him in it?  
  
That thought seemed most prominent in Kairi's mind, wondering why in the world he was so pale - simply so white. It was creepy and she blinked suddenly as she realized that she was obsessing about it. So in response she just put another blanket across Riku's still form, ignoring the voice in her mind that was far too worried for its own good.  
  
In fact, all of this worry had suddenly replaced the sadness that had dominated her thoughts for the past three years. It was tiring actually, to have all of the sorrow suddenly leak out and be replaced with an even more draining emotion.  
  
With the feminine grace that she had gained over the years, the red-head reached down into a cardboard box and grabbed a rather large wheat cracker, munching on it absently as she eyed the mess of blankets and food scattered around the cave.  
  
It was very lucky that Sora and herself had been lazy enough to leave their overnight supplies in the cave; amending the pick them up later at a more favorable time, preferably when Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka weren't looming over them. There was a large supply of overnight items too, as Kairi was not one to be unprepared - thick mats made of foam along with fluffy, feather pillows and several warm blankets accompanying them, a rather vast junk food supply, enough spare clothing for a month long trip and even a first-aid kit.  
  
Sora had originally thought her to be a bit mental, wondering when in the world she had become so prepared for whatever was thrown at them and why he was the one who had to lug all of the supplies over to the island in the first place. But now, Kairi was very glad that she had over-prepared and was sure that Sora thought the same.  
  
The red-head glanced over towards the tunnel that led out of the Secret Place and titled her head to the side, wondering when Sora would decide to come back and grace them with his presence. To say the least, she was not too pleased with him for simply taking off without a word or a note and was quite determined to give him a piece of her mind when he returned - it would _not_ be pretty.  
  
The girl sighed absently, eyes slightly unfocused as she mechanically shifted position for her right leg was slowly losing all feeling - only to be snapped back into reality as she bumped the bowl of fresh water that she had been using to bathe Riku's face. She stared for a moment blankly as the clear liquid spilled across the ground in a prismatic display of liquid crystal, a grimace slowly creeping across her face.  
  
"Agh!" she grumbled, staring at the sight in dismay and pouting slightly at the sight, as if the childish display would stop the water from sliding across the cool soil and sinking in. With what was a rather un-feminine grunt, she got to her feet and grabbed the bowl, sparing a glance towards Riku as she headed to the dark passage that led outwards.  
  
It wasn't that it was a time consuming task, going to gather fresh water all. In fact, all that was required would be to go to the waterfall which was mere meters away from the Secret Place, that is if you didn't mind getting soaked wet head to toe from the spray - which Kairi did mind, very much so.  
  
The other option, getting water from the tunnel below that old, rickety bridge, wasn't particularly far away either, but it still peeved her slightly that she had to get up and leave Riku. Not to mention the fact that the bridge above the water hole was a constant hazard, as it was literally falling to pieces, on a daily basis no less.  
  
Well actually, when Kairi had been there earlier, she had found that it could no longer be called a bridge per se, as the storm from the previous day had all but tipped it over out into the ocean. Yes, there were a few lopsided base poles, but that was it. Sora and Riku would be so disappointed at the sight - being boys, the dangerous area had attracted them like a pair of magnets.  
  
The red-head smiled as she headed outwards, eyeing the thick roots with memories lacing their way through her mind. When she was younger, Kairi had always been afraid of getting lost in the Secret Place, although that was technically impossible as there was only one tunnel and a door that simply refused to open. But that day when Sora and herself had gone to scratch pictures into the rock, the brunette had pointed out the roots that grew overhead, saying that Riku had told him that if you always followed the roots, you'd never lose your way. From then on, Kairi had always glanced up at the craggy roots for the memory and the thought that she wasn't going to get lost anytime soon, and even if she did, there would always be a way back.  
  
Stepping out from the Secret Place, Kairi shaded her brilliant blue eyes from the sun and grinned brightly, features radiating gracefully as she eyed the island that was looking far much better than it had earlier.  
  
A faint breeze had swept away the layer of sand that had covered everything along with the shredded plant life and the tide had risen, dragging shattered sea shells to the depths and all of the starfish that she hadn't saved earlier by tossing into the sea. In fact, the only flaws that marred the landscape of the island were the boards that stuck jaggedly from the sand, the lack of what could officially be called a dock, and the giant tree that had crashed into the Seaside Shack.  
  
She brought her hand down, tucking a clump of auburn hair behind her ear as she stepped forward, drinking in the fresh new sight as life was once again beginning to show itself island. Ants poured across the ground in a frantic rush to re-build their home, a lone gull floated in the salty winds in search for the carcass of some poor fish, and a small rodent had skirted across the ground in front of her feet and into a clump of brush.  
  
The world seemed reborn and it was simply amazing.  
  
Kairi soon found herself standing in the shallows before the small tunnel planted in the cliff-face, watching as fresh water spurted from the cave. With a glance to the side the girl tossed the bowl to the side, made a cup from her curved fingers, and filled them with the flowing, cool water that streamed outward. She sighed lightly, eyes softening in ease - becoming dewy pools of sapphire as she splashed her face before drinking as much as she could, for it simply wouldn't do for her to be drinking Riku's water later on.  
  
She grinned brightly, imagining the ridiculous reaction she would have received from Sora if she dared to drink the water from the bowl - 'Riku needs to get better silly - you can't just be drinking all his water! What would he say to that?' he'd say before grinning cheekily and fetching more water for them without so much as a complaint.  
  
Sora was just like that.  
  
The red-headed girl glanced downwards, placed the tip of a sandaled foot beneath the rim of the upside down bowl, and flicked her foot just enough so that with a small spray of water, the bowl flew into her apt grasp. She grinned in accomplishment before stooping forward with the wooden bowl, filling it up to the brim with the crystal water, and sighing as the cool liquid splashed over her hands.  
  
The water felt beyond wonderful. It had a far fresher feeling than the sea would ever have - being forever tainted with salt, and it seemed far more precious. The ocean surrounded everything, there wouldn't be a lack of salt water anytime soon, but fresh water could only be found in special little places within the deep wells found on all populated islands and where rivers poured outward.  
  
Unlike the others, Kairi felt that she was much more appreciative to the nature of the island (who else would bother to muse about water?) and probably was the only person who was quite content to never leave again . . . or at least not any time soon.  
  
Yes, three years ago she was perfectly happy with the idea of building a raft and escaping the island that had become a small hell-hole, but ever since she had found out who she really was and that her true home had been Hollow Bastion, everything seemed more real.  
  
She blinked suddenly, snapping her thoughts back into place as water spilled over the edges of the wooden bowl, signaling that it was time to head back to the Secret Place and wait for Riku to wake up - which he would. Despite the fact that this wasn't necessarily true, Kairi couldn't help but think positive, if only to battle the worry that had built a settlement in the back of her skull.  
  
The girl stepped across the sand lightly, carefully holding the bowl as to spill not a drop of water, and smiling at her blooming surroundings for it had been downright deathly earlier. How an island could recover in a few hours was a wonder, and she had the joy of being able to experience it first hand.  
  
But, as she approached the familiar cluster of leaves that hid the entrance of the Secret Place, she found herself stopping as a soft yet strong noise drifted through the heavy foliage and out into the salt-tinted air, surrounding her with its deep melody.  
  
"_Excitate vow e somno, liberi fatali . . . somnus non eat . . . surgite_."  
  
The words of the drifting song certainly wasn't in any language that she knew, it all sounded a bit too, well, jerky but fluid at the same time in a weird way and she suddenly wished that she knew what the words meant. It sounded liberating but sad at the same time.  
  
With a building curiosity, the red-head pushed the emerald leaves to the side as she stooped through the opening, walked blindly down the passage as quietly as she could, straining to hear the soft voice that filtered towards her. It finally occurred to her exactly who was singing as the next few words drifted down past her ears.  
  
"_Urite mala mundi . . . ardente veritate . . . incendite tenebras mundi_."  
  
"Riku . . ." she murmured, electrically clear eyes widening as the realization hit her. Shock induced adrenaline soaked her veins along with the sudden need to sprint down the tunnel towards the silver haired boy, yet she found herself trapped in a impossibly slow world counting each methodic step she took.  
  
In seconds that seemed to tick as slow as the lives of a thousand different men, Kairi found herself watching a solitary figure sitting with a blanket spread across his lap, facing multiples of chalky figures carved crudely into the wall, and singing a most beautiful song.  
  
"_Incendite tenebras mundi . . . valete, liberi . . . diebus fatalibus_."  
  
She gasped, not knowing why. The song touched her with invisible fingers of a dream, making all the more sense as the words came to flow over and around her, speaking of fated children.  
  
However, the singing stopped as soon as the dreaded sound left her mouth, yet the singer ignored her presence for a moment seemingly regarding his hands and making her wonder if the gasp of astonishment had been heard or maybe the song was meant to end so abruptly.  
  
It was not silent for long.  
  
"It's you," he murmured softly, voice resounding eerily as he turned his head to look up towards her, an empty smile adorning a pale face framed by wet strands of silver. But despite the fact that his eyes were hidden behind a veil of black, the girl simply knew that he saw her for all she was. "Hello Kairi."  
  
But she could not see him.   
  
**To be continued . . .**   
  
  
  
I'll just say now that I'm not too fond of this chapter . . . it was difficult to write, Donald was being evilly annoying, nothing really happens except some character development, I could not think of another pronoun to use for Kairi except red-head, and I kept having to look things up - even replaying the beginning of the game at one point to find out the name of the Seaside Shack! Gah! It was evil I'm telling you and now I feel the need to quote the game: "It is I, _Ansem_, the seeker of darkness!" Bwahaha. Now that the author notes below this message are getting outrageously long, I think I'll wrap it up this little blurb. Hopefully you all have read the second part of Open Up and have an opinion on it - so go be a good child and write me a review telling me what your opinion happens to be and then I'll love you forever and ever!  
  
Here are some general notes regarding things you may have noticed:  
**1.** The song that Riku sings is 'Liberi Fatali' from Final Fantasy VIII and it is downright gorgeous so go download it now.  
**2.** Yes, there are allusions to Deep Dive and the Final Fantasy games, such as Riku's outfit and the mention of Lulu, but this story is not a crossover and will not branch off into a cliché plot concerning the preview.  
**3.** _Mutatio_ is Latin and I shall not disclose what it means at the moment, so live with it.  
**4.** Uh, yeah, all of the chapter titles are songs from the KH soundtrack . . . I guess you could say that not only do the titles fit, but they can be the background music for each chapter. Heh.  
**5.** In my mind, the Destiny Islands are a chain of islands and so far there are about five islands all named for something destiny related: Fate being the main island where everyone lives; Shukumei and Unmei (Japanese for fate and destiny), two smaller twin islands whose purpose is currenlty unknown to me; Kismet, a small, isloated island that's quite exotic; and Mirai (Japanese for future), ther place where the story starts.  
**6.** Yes, the story description is a bit, shall we say off? It needs to be changed and I'm on my way to fixing it as it is currently: Post-game fic in which Sora has a dream when he visits the Destiny Islands in order to take a break from his search for the door to Kingdom Hearts - causing a chain of events including the reappearance of Riku to spiral out of control.  
  
To my reviewers . . . I love you all . . .   
**TennyoAngel711:** Slow updaters unite! Yeah! ^_^;; Anyways, much thanks, I really appreciate it! Yes . . . cherrios are good to munch on, not only do they have more fiber that most other cereals they're tasty! Try it sometime! Ahem, yes.  
**Ari Powwel:** I'm so happy I've gotten onto your favorite stories list! I saw that and was like, "Aie! _I'm_ liked!" *lol* It was a happy moment. Also, I'm glad that you haven't seen this idea used anywhere else . . . it means I'm original! Hah!  
**KyrieTanaka:** Oh, but you must admit, cliffhangers are so fun! Mwahahaha! Thanks so much I get all happy skippy whenever I read your review - it's so encouraging! Hee. Hope you liked this chapter - despite that it's . . . odd. 


	3. No Time To Think

Well, what do you guys want me to say? ^_^ I don't want to say it because I hate coming up with excuses . . . but I'm sorry this took so late to get out! -_- Just don't hurt me people! But yeah, I'd list all of my excuses, but they're cliché and they grow on each other, so it would be boring and take a while. *shrug* But yeah, anyway . . . I feel the need to share that I hate this chapter! Hate, hate, hate, hate! I swear, half of the time I was working on it, the characters were walking around musing to themselves. They're always walking to and from the freaking Secret Place or Seaside Shack! It was either that or I was writing about Riku, who was just a pain in the butt! *glares at said character who squawks indignantly* Yes . . . I'll stop complaining now before I give a plot twist or something away. Oh, and regarding any strange actions by the characters. Well . . . *sings* It's Ari's fault . . . she told me that . . . I had excuses! She said the characters would change; there's no misuses! It's Ari's fault, it's true! . . . and that's the tale I have to tell to you! *stop singing* Ahem, that was composed by Ari Powell herself and is to the tune of "It's Laura's Fault" from Veggie Tales. Lovely, ne? ^_^  
  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts. If I did, I'd have a computer that works properly. *nods* Yes, but I don't have such a computer and I don't own KH. In fact, the owners happen to be Disney and Squaresoft. So don't sue, because I don't have any money to give you. Remember, I'm trying to get a good computer here!   
  
**Story Key:**   
italics = emphasis   
". . ." = speaking   
* * * = scene switch   
  
Anyway, onto the fic . . .   
  
  
  
**Open Up   
Part III: No Time To Think**  
  
A brunette boy with eyes like the sky frowned sourly, features distorted as he rested his head in his hands, tugging restlessly at the strands of hair that slipped through his fingers. A headache was building rapidly behind his temples, every noise around him becoming more punctuated each second, and as he closed his eyes sighing grumpily, he wondered what in the world was going on.  
  
Sora had been sitting in the Tomodachi for what much have been at least two hours contemplating what Donald and Goofy had told him, and he wasn't any closer to an answer that made sense. Not that he was completely focused on trying to understand it all - his mind kept wandering homeward and into a dark cave sheltered beneath a mountain.  
  
The Keybearer was avoiding the Destiny Islands and he knew it. He was flying between worlds carelessly, as there were no longer any gummi ships inhabited by Heartless to cause him problems - just large blocks and spirals of gummi floating by in the nothingness between the stars.  
  
Guilt tugged at his senses for leaving Kairi by herself, and even when he got back there'd be no good explanation for his rash actions. Oh yes, he had gone to find out what was going on, that was true - but couldn't that have waited? After three years Riku was finally back and here he was, hovering like a coward worlds away from where he needed to be. He had run away from his best friend!  
  
Not that the mysterious person clothed in black could still be considered his best friend.  
  
He flinched at the sudden thought that had bubbled up from his conscious, inwardly berating himself for thinking such a thing. But really, what kind of best friend tries to maim you and everyone around you repeatedly on separate occasions? Yes, Sora did understand that it was Ansem's fault, and yes, he did forgive Riku for the mess that had befallen him, but the blue-eyed boy would never forget it either. Riku had changed too much during that time period for it all to be simply forgotten.  
  
And there was that word again. Change. It was haunting him. Or, shall we say, '_mutatio_' was haunting him. The alien word kept connecting his thoughts together before acting like a giant eraser, clearing everything else that kept cluttering up his mind so it could sit in focus, waiting to be deciphered.  
  
But what was there to decipher when Donald and Goofy had given him only two clues to work with? Not only that, but both of these clues were relatively useless; they were like having a handful of puzzle pieces that showed the sky when the focus of the picture was supposed to grounded to the earth.   
  
All Sora had learned was that this '_mutatio_' word was from some language of Kingdom Hearts and that it could be roughly translated into the word 'change.'  
  
When first told that, it was almost like a barrier in his mind had crumbled, allowing the points of A and B to finally connect as he realized just why the word had sounded vaguely familiar, for the blue-eyed boy had heard that language sung to him in his dreams. But that was as far as the thought process had gotten, the invisible light bulb floating above his head staying dim.  
  
What was '_mutatio_' supposed to mean to them? And why had King Mickey used a foreign word to explain his sudden reappearance? Did some vital part of Kingdom Hearts change to the point where he and Riku had been freed? Or was he simply commenting on how Donald and Goofy had changed over the three years that he had been gone? There simply wasn't enough known about this new language to tell if '_mutatio_' was meant to be a command or not, let alone if it was supposed to be a warning or just a mere statement.  
  
Sora's arms suddenly went limp and he lay tiredly, upper body sprawled across the controls that had fluidly shifted to fit his slender form, forehead pressed against the cool vid-screen displaying the list of various Rest Points for Atlantica.  
  
"That's it," he mumbled languidly, lips brushing against the colorful screen and leaving a liquid smear of saliva across the picture. "I've gotta get back before I drive myself insane thinking about all this."  
  
Dragging his left hand to the side, the brunette nimbly reached for a keypad and pressed the combination of buttons that would take him home in warp drive without the slightest of glances, as he had the coordinates memorized. Sora cringed as the air grew heavy for but a moment, his head not at all agreeing with the mock roller coaster feeling as it was pressed slightly into the display screen. Thankfully the ride was over in but a few seconds.  
  
With a deep, guttural noise that bloomed from the back of his throat, the Keybearer pushed himself up and back into sitting position, eyeing the Rest Points for the Destiny Islands mildly as the controls shifted to their original state. For a split second Sora found himself biting his lip in indecision, wanting to select a Rest Point entitled Tokidoki Fountain, thinking for a moment that maybe he could get a dinghy along with help. But just before he pressed the name, the sudden realization that he was still trying to run away again hit him and he recoiled before quickly pressing on the words 'Seaside Shack.'  
  
Luckily Sora recalled the state the shack had been in when he left and fell to his knees before he completely materialized, clutching a handful of sand as he waiting motionlessly, not wanting to shack to collapse on him. It was a long ten seconds as a breeze swept into the enclosure, causing it to shudder all the slightest and cry rivers of sand.  
  
Once all was still, the brunette crawled out of the structure, leaping outward in a dive roll at the first moment he could.  
  
At that point Sora could have noticed the fact that the island looked far more alive then when he had last seen it, or he could have looked at the trail of footsteps that lead away from the Secret Place. However, nothing of his surroundings hit him as he was far too preoccupied with convincing himself that he was not going to crawl back into the Seaside Shack.  
  
He hadn't felt this cowardly in a long time.  
  
The brunette slowly plodded over to the Secret Place, staring at the leafy door for moments before stooping down to enter. The cave was itself was several degrees cooler than the baking atmosphere outside and the stillness in it sent a chill down Sora's spine. For a place that represented the life of the world, it sounded so dead.  
  
The boy suddenly sprinted down the tunnel, dismissing the déjà vu that flooded his veins side by side with the adrenaline running there. He reached the end panting and looking haggard as he stared inward, almost expecting an image of the past to be layered over the present. Instead, he was met with an eerie silence.  
  
There was no sign of Riku, let alone any sign that he had been there sans the unkempt red blankets that lay rumpled and a foreboding pair of gloves that were folded and off to the side.  
  
Kairi was all but motionless as she sat cross-legged with her hands in her lap, leaning against a rock with a box of wheat crackers sitting forlornly at her side. Her dark hair hid her features from view, but she appeared to be completely absorbed with her pale fingers, twiddling them absently.  
  
"K-Kairi?" Sora questioned, the stutter lingering in the air without response. He stepped forward hesitantly, reaching out shyly, wanting to brush his fingers across her pastel form, before dropping his hand back to his side and continuing. "Are you all right? Where's Riku?"  
  
The red-head didn't answer immediately, first she looked up at Sora hollowly and the boy didn't know what to think. In all his memories, the last time Kairi had looked this miserable was moments before she had become windswept, lending him her heart.  
  
"Me? _I'm_ fine. But, it's amazing . . . amazing how different he is," the girl murmured dryly, looking back to her hands with a detached fascination and not really answering his question at all. "He's out by the paopu tree, it's one thing . . . maybe the only thing, that hasn't changed."  
  
Sora heard himself question her about that particular comment, but that was only an echo in his mind as the familiar words brought back a conversation from two eves ago. Kairi had looked him in the eye, telling how much he had changed.  
  
"It's amazing how different you are Sora," she had told him, smiling knowingly as she had brushed a stray lock of her hair behind an ear. "It's not just the obvious stuff that everybody else has pointed out - like Selphie calling you buff or Wakka being surprised at how worldly you've been acting. It's like you've really, truly grown, leaving the rest of us behind in some sort of way. And yet, despite all that, part of you is still the same . . . and I think that that part is a good part and that that part is the important part. It's hard for the others to see it right now, but just give them a little time and they'll find you again."  
  
Of course, the chestnut haired boy hadn't known what to say to something like that at the time, so he had laughed it off, receiving a slightly hurt look from Kairi in the process.  
  
The brunette was snapped out of his reverie as the Kairi of the present glared up at him before repeating his words and mocking him slightly in the process, "What do I mean by that?! I mean that that isn't Riku - it's just a shell on auto-pilot. Go see for yourself."  
  
"Err, okay," Sora replied cautiously, turning around and wondering what in the world was wrong with his female friend. He mused for moment as he padded down the tunnel, finally deciding that Kairi's snippiness must be a 'girl thing.' He had been gone for a good chunk of his teenage years and had no clue what experiencing an actual 'girl thing' was like, since Kairi hadn't been one to physically mature quickly, but this behavior seemed strange enough, so the conclusion seemed worthwhile.  
  
Soon Sora stood on the beach, soaking in the sun with a smile as he glanced toward the paopu tree and wondering how he hadn't noticed the blob of black before. The treaded boots, long coat, and clothing underneath - it was all a mess of black, a total contrast to the shades of yellow and blue that Riku had worn over the years. It stood out sharply against the bright island colors like a bruise. Was Riku like that now - a bruise on their lives that was unneeded and destined to fade away?   
  
The Keybearer mechanically sprinted across the palm that had collapsed into the Seaside Shack as if it were a bridge. Sora's sight was completely focused on the personified shadow that was his friend as he walked across the bridge. He didn't even realize when he had come within a meter distance from Riku and had stopped walking, simply too caught up in watching the other boy for some sort of sign.  
  
He was like an onyx pillar, standing motionless beside the paopu tree, somehow watching the tide roll in foaming masses of salt and water, pounding stone into sand with each churn. He didn't even move as droplets splashed up onto his coat, sliding across the material slickly before submitting to gravity and dripping downward.  
  
'_That isn't Riku - it's just a shell._'  
  
But what was that supposed to mean? Riku surely didn't look like a shell - worse for the wear definitely with those blinded eyes and the fact that he was soaking wet from the sea spray. Then again, what was a shell supposed to look like? In fact, what was a shell supposed to act like?  
  
These questions plagued Sora as he stared at his friend, spinning around his mind faster then any toy top and colliding on impact instead of careening innocently off to the side.  
  
"It's going to rain," the silver boy in question stated suddenly, his voice cracking bluntly through the still air, dripping in such disgust that one would wonder at such a blatant animosity towards nature. But he was right; the sky was dark on the horizon. "I hate it when it rains."  
  
Despite the negative words of Kairi that had somehow become his mantra, Sora's thoughts cleared at Riku's statement. The silver boy had always hated the rain - declaring that it was wet, depressing, and made people moody. The excuse had always seemed a bit shallow in Sora's opinion, but he'd never really pried. He wasn't strong enough, because it was after his mother's death when Riku started hating the tears of heaven.  
  
The events surrounding her death were muddled, but Sora could clearly remember that Keshiki had been a woman of the outdoors confined to the bedside for the latter half of her life. He had seen her but a handful of times, sitting pale in a rocking chair by the front window in Riku's house, watching the world pass her by as she got thinner and more sickly each day, asking what it was like to lie under the sun. Then one night she was drawn in too closely by nature and wandered outside, dying in the rain and found by fishmongers in the morn.  
  
"What are you thinking about?"  
  
The question sent Sora's thoughts reeling, snapping him back into reality with a startled squawk as Riku remained stoic. The brunette turned to face his friend properly, holding back the flinch that wanted to slide down his spine at the sight of the blindfold. He never really realized how much he relied on eye contact during a conversation until that moment.  
  
He suddenly couldn't speak, the muscles in his voice box seemingly dead as he gaped at the other boy like a beached fish, vainly trying to remember out how syllables fit together again and failing miserably. It was almost as if Sora had been silenced by a piercing, skin-peeling stare that wasn't there.  
  
"Well? What were you thinking?" Riku repeated without the slightest notice of Impatience hovering over his dark form, her caressing fingers sending a sharp note into his familiar voice and only a vague trace of curiosity.  
  
"I-" Sora started hoarsely, finding his voice in a moment of revelation before wondering what had happened to its texture before continuing. "I . . . somehow, I just realized - it's really you."  
  
"Well, yeah you moron. It really is me," the blinded boy replied, a hollow humor permeating his tone in a way that seemed purely Riku. It was so him that Sora felt truly glad, because there was no doubt in his mind anymore, no matter what Kairi said. "Who else would I be?"  
  
"I don't know . . ." the brunette murmured, shaking his head absently. "It's just, none of this seemed real 'til just now."  
  
"A lot of things don't seem real, but they are," Riku replied sharply, turning back to the dark sky fluidly, his movements wraith-like and deathly in their grace. Like he had become one with the shadows, his body like the tendrils of darkness that had pulled him down in the first place. "And some things are just dreams. No matter how real you want them to be."  
  
With those words Sora's foundation cracked, splintered, shattered as the pieces of his hope went flying into the walls with the force of a hundred suns when they melted and couldn't be put back together for all their worth. Kairi's mantra echoed.  
  
'_That isn't Riku._'  
  
"Riku . . . it's real," the brunette replied hoarsely, utter conviction and another strong emotion creeping into his voice that caused the blinded boy to look over at him. The darkness in his form vanished from the jerky movement. "It's really real . . . we're all here. You and me and Kairi. This isn't a dream."  
  
The silver haired boy cocked his head to the side, another gesture that repelled his former sleekness, and stared blindly at Sora with confusion coloring his pale face.   
  
"No," he breathed, voice soft. "I don't think it is."  
  
There was silence after that. It was a not comfortable silence nor was it a silence laced by tension. It was merely a silence in which Riku seemed to revel and in which Sora paid notice to a deep fatigue that he had been ignoring up to this point. It was a weight deep in his gut, pulling him downward, begging to be thrown onto the sand.  
  
He hated it. He hated the weakness of it.  
  
So, in a desperate attempt to throw the anchor from his body, the brunette reached out to grab a lifeline, any lifeline. Because as long as you were free from drowning, then it didn't matter what happened next, did it? You'd just deal with it when it arrived. At least your lungs would be dry.  
  
"I've been wondering, Riku," Sora asked, not even realizing that his attempt at conversation was selfish. He was solely focused on the fact that once he spoke the hole that the silence had made would be filled. No matter the fact that he was about to grab the wrong line. "Why are you wearing that blindfold?"  
  
"Don't you know - Kingdom Hearts is utterly black when the doors are closed," Riku snapped, his voice biting and motions fluid once again. "If I take off this blindfold I'll go blind from all the light out here. My eyes aren't used to it anymore."  
  
It was the longest bundle of sentences that Riku had uttered up to this point, and yet the confession seemed false to Sora and he couldn't figure out why. The words themselves were laced with something that simply felt off, but there was nothing in him to challenge them. It was the same as Riku's hatred for rain - Sora had nothing to say.  
  
'_That isn't Riku._'  
  
'_Don't you know?_'  
  
'_It's just a shell._'  
  
'_I'll go blind._'  
  
Kairi's mantras pulsed with a renewed strength in his mind now, melding in with Riku's own statements and sounding more and more right each second as he watched the silver boy. Was this even Riku? He was so cold . . . so empty . . . so very bitter inside.  
  
"Oh," Sora suddenly murmured, finding the noise to be the only thing he could choke out. The brunette's throat was dry; swallowing was difficult. For some reason he couldn't figure out why the air seemed so thin.   
  
But the jumble of thought and sense was lost to the Keybearer as Riku suddenly turned to him with a simple request: "Sora, could you leave me now?"  
  
The question was rather innocent, no feelings betrayed in the sharp words as they fell from his lips, but they scarred Sora terribly with a biting, gnawing sting that ran across him in the form of a visible flinch.  
  
"Y-yeah. Yeah, okay," the brunette managed to choke out, his voice creaking high for a moment, as the unease blooming from the question had raised the tenor. "Sure. I-I can do that. See you, Riku."  
  
Sora turned around slowly, as if trapped in a dream, and plodded away from the figure clothed in black, footsteps hollow against the wooden bridge. He listened for a goodbye to drift across the breeze, but none came and the wind remained silent.   
  
Kairi was standing by the entrance of the Secret Place, leaning against the cliff with a false air of nonchalance. Sora wanted to smile at her façade, to laugh hysterically at her horrible acting skills as he broke down inside, trying to figure out why everything felt so wrong when it should all be so right.  
  
"Sora," she started when he was in hearing distance, cerulean eyes shimmering with wetness as she glanced at him, looking for all the world far sadder than he had ever seen her before. "What's the matter with him - what's wrong with Riku? It's like . . . he's all frozen inside."  
  
"I don't know Kairi. I don't know anything."  
  


* * *

  
They sat together, in a group of three after dinner that was so quiet it seemed larger then it truly was. The fire burned brightly, emphasizing the silence by casting shadows across everything. It cracked merrily though against the smoke that filtered out through nooks and crannies that littered the ceiling of the Secret Place.  
  
Riku was a statue in his corner of the cave, sitting on top of the red blanket and staring out at a nothingness that resided between Sora and Kairi. The other two were fidgeting in the uncomfortable silence. Each gesturing to the respected other to get him or her to speak up first.  
  
Kairi lost the silent argument.  
  
"So, uh, yeah . . . you wear that blindfold because of the light?" the red-head questioned rhetorically, her nervousness at starting some form of conversation quite obvious. "Err, well, it's um, it's pretty dark now, so . . . can't you take it off for a little while? I want to see you."  
  
"No," Riku replied sharply, cutting Kairi down with a swift stroke of his bladed tongue. "It will always be too bright."  
  
In order to maintain a semblance of peace, the conversation probably should have ended there, but tensions had risen in the last few seconds and Sora couldn't help but blurt out something that he knew would annoy Riku. It also helped that this something had been a something that had been bugging him for a while.   
  
"Riku, do you know what '_mutatio_' means?"  
  
"'_Mutatio_?'" the oldest questioned sharply, turning fluidly to Sora with what would have been a slit glance had his eyes been in view. "It means change."  
  
"But what is that supposed to mean?!" Sora's tone was blunt and rude with frustration, angered through the fact the Riku had given him old information, and thus sending his friend back into calm, passiveness. "Is there a certain context or something?"  
  
"Everything. It's about everything because everything in all of the worlds has changed," Riku murmured, his voice smooth and prophetic as the shadows seemed to deepen. "It's all becoming nonexistent because they were closed. Since then, no one has been born except the third enemy, and they're Nobody."  
  
"What are you talking about Riku?" Kairi whispered, a crease across her forehead and tension lining her voice with something that none of them could understand. "What is that supposed to mean? What does this '_mutatio_' word have to do with anything?"  
  
"It has to do with everything! '_Mutatio_!' '_Lumens_!' '_Taceo_!' '_Cor_!' They're all words whispered in my mind. All warning, all afraid," Riku hissed spastically, his fingers curling up like claws as he held his hands out, before he turned on Sora. "And you! You would hear them too if you just listened hard enough!"  
  
For some reason Sora had no will to deny that. The words rang deep within him, begging him to remember what they meant. Part of him burned, trying to recall why he should know what Riku was screaming about.  
  
"Neither of you can understand because you're refusing to listen!"  
  
The boy in black was nearly hysterical; a scene that the other occupants of the cave had never seen before and probably never would again. In fact, they might have found it quite humorous had they not been sitting in complete and utter shock at the explosion.  
  
Of course, one bomb can't go off without creating a chain reaction and setting off another. While Kairi was sitting there trying to come up with a good way to calm her friend down, one idea being to hit him over the head with a rock, Sora was quickly getting angered at the nonsense Riku was spouting out.  
  
The brunette had sat in the Tomodachi for hours trying to decipher things, and here Riku was with answers that he was refusing to give. Or, maybe it was more like, with answers that he didn't care to clarify. But no matter, it was still annoying Sora beyond belief and he couldn't help but come up with the coldest retort he could to shut the other boy up.  
  
"Maybe you're the only one who can understand, Riku. You have experienced things that Kairi and I just haven't been able stoop down to low enough to see yet."  
  
As soon as the slicing words came out, Sora clapped his hand over his mouth and Kairi hissed his name in horror. The silver boy snarled as he stood up in rage, his form tense and shivering in anticipation for what could happen next. He took a deep breath, raised his head as he twirled melodramatically with his coat flying, and proceeded to quickly walk out of the cave.  
  
Kairi and Sora stared for a moment, blinking at the sudden silence before the blue-eyed boy stood up sharply and dashed outside, paying no notice to the blue-eyed girl when she called his name.  
  
"Riku! _Riku_!" Sora screamed in a passion, stomping out of the Secret Place in a huff, eyes glowing like a pair of flaming sapphires in the dark of the night, looking all the more ethereal from the faint moonlight that flashed in them. "I'm sorry! Get back here! Riku! Look at me!"  
  
"I can't," was the bitter reply, though Riku did stop and turn to the Keybearer. A set of white lips twisted up into a bitter grimace as the pale boy continued, a dark humor filtering through his voice. "You know that."  
  
"Look - I don't know why you're wearing that blindfold, but it isn't because of the light!" Sora replied harshly, throwing a hand to the side, gesturing towards the moon in order to punctuate his emotion. "I was there! I've seen Kingdom Heats, Riku - there's light there! Kingdom Hearts _is_ light! So stop lying to us about it, stop lying to me and Kairi! We aren't that stupid! So look at me!"  
  
"I-I," the silver haired boy began, sounding rather startled at the outburst and betraying a far weaker emotion than he had ever before, before he visibly gave up on the argument. With a small sigh he dipped his head forward, reaching back and tentatively brushing strands of hair away to untie the black knot resting on the back of his head.  
  
"Are you happy now?" the older boy questioned harshly as he looked up, the black cloth of the blindfold resting in his hands, sharp green eyes boring a hole into Sora, who found himself speechless because he had actually gotten through to his friend.  
  
But something was missing in those eyes, a spark of life maybe, or the reflection of his soul - but they were empty beyond all reason, dirty mirrors, shallow aquamarine disks of nothing and Sora found himself wondering where Riku had gone because Kairi was absolutely right.  
  
This Riku was just a shell.  
  
**To be continued . . .**   
  
  
  
Well, now that we all think Riku is insane (Riku: The voices! Can't you hear them Sora?!), I think I'll end the chapter. Fun, fun, fun. I mean, Riku goes psycho. It's all good. Ahem. So, anyone confused? Good. *cackles* You guys'll get a freaking huge explanation next chapter. Which is also good, eh? It'll make up for everyone's bi-polar attitudes in this chapter. ^_^ Kairi will also have a bigger part in the next chapter . . . all she seems to do in this one is sit around being sad while Sora gets angry and Riku tries to remain impassive. *shrug* But whatever. Oh, another thing about the next chapter - it'll hopefully be out fairly quick because it actually has an outline and I know what going to happen. Yay! Now, I'll probably end up eating this words - but it's the thought that counts, right? Okay, I'll stop babbling now. But please lovely readers, click on that link below and review. Why? It will will improve your typing skills and make me happy in the process!  
  
Oh, and a note about the thing with Kingdom Hearts being light. First of all, is it just me, or is KH a place of utter dark in every fan fic that is out there? -_- I mean, play the game, there's light there! Look at the glowy, purple formation things that you can see in the background when the door is getting closed. Somehow I doubt KH being a freaking refrigerator - the light probably doesn't go out when you close the door. ^_^ I really wanted Sora to scream that tidbit at Riku, but alas that would have just killed the tension in that scene.  
  
And now for the shameless self-plug: Did you like this story? Then go read my other KH fic, Yellow Coats. It's nice, spiffy, gots symbolism, and needs some love.  
  
To my reviewers . . . I still love you all . . .  
**TennyoAngel711:** Don't worry . . . I'm just really, really slow. Like a turtle or snail. -_- Thanks for telling me that my summary is okay - I think because it's so vague people ignore it. *sob* I need the love! Anyway, thanks for your review!   
**Ari Powwel:** Poor child, forgetting things. You're forgiven though! *pats on back* Personally - I agree! The bridge would rock! I'd probably break my leg on it somehow, but it would still rock. ^_^ Liberi Fatali is hard to understand, isn't it? 


	4. Disappeared

Want to experience a "holy-freaking-crap" moment: This chapter was like 90% done four days after Part III was posted. All that was left was some re-wording and the final tweaks. All in four days! Count them: one, two, three, four! But, it didn't work out. You see, I actually write a chapter quickly and have the opportunity to post it within a week of the last update. But nooo, my computer has to flip out and start acting wonky, totally corrupting the outline for this story in the process. -_- Luckily I had printed it out the day before so I could work on stuff in my biology class (as opposed to listening to my teacher start talking about salmon and how "No, they aren't trained to swim upstream" . . . ugh, my class is so stupid). Anyway, I'll stop complaining now so you people can read and be happy . . . of, and much thanks to Ari Powell for help with Micky dialogue-ness . . .  
  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts. If I did, I'd have a computer that works properly. *nods* Yes, but I don't have such a computer and I don't own KH. In fact, the owners happen to be Disney and Squaresoft. So don't sue, because I don't have any money to give you. Remember, I'm trying to get a good computer here!   
  
**Story Key:**   
italics = emphasis   
". . ." = speaking   
* * * = scene switch   
  
Anyway, onto the fic . . .   
  
  
  
**Open Up   
Part IV: Disappeared**  
  
'_Are you so sorry now, when you can see that my eyes are dead?_'  
  
Kairi had been in the middle of gently pushing the waxy leaves of the Secret Place's 'door' aside when Riku had hissed that to Sora the night before. She had stared in shock and horror at the time, a coldness running through her veins, and all her anger at Sora's headless words temporarily forgotten when Riku had glanced in her direction.  
  
When their eyes had met, lightning had cracked across the sky in a flurry of jagged white, sending an eerie glow against the unpolished gems of Riku's eyes and his silver-white hair. But the boy's attention left her when the sky was dark again, turning on Sora with another whispered sneer.  
  
'_If eyes are the windows to your soul, what do you think this says about me?_'  
  
The brunette had been aghast, gawking at Riku with shock and pity and concern flashing across his facial features rapidly, each emotion blurring into the next. Then, with little to no warning, the sky had fallen in a sudden sheen of water.  
  
The rain had painted the three of them melancholic and they had stared at each other motionlessly with hollow eyes through the wet strands of hair that lined their faces. They had been sopping wet and shivering, covered in a thick gloss of liquid crystal before Kairi had whispered for the boys to come back into the Secret Place. The red-head didn't know why, but they had listened to her, both entering the cave and sitting in their respective corners, ignoring each other childishly.  
  
And now it was morning with neither of the boys anywhere in sight.  
  
Kairi grumbled to herself as she sat up, the kinks in her back tightening their grip without the slightest notion of mercy. She reached out, stretching the muscles crossly, glaring over at the two foam mats that had been occupied by the boys the night before.  
  
"They've obviously lost any sense of dignity. Didn't even come to mind any ideas about sacrificing their own comfort for a lady," she muttered darkly. She rubbed at her eyes furiously in order to rid them of the yellowish gunk that had encrusted itself on her lashes, cursing the Sandman in the process.  
  
Groping to her left, she caught a hairbrush, rapidly pulling it through her mussed locks before chucking it violently back into the pile she had dubbed 'toiletries.' Then, feeling much better, she rose to her feet and stomped toward the outdoors, hoping to step in the waterfall and let the mock shower soothe away the stickiness she felt.  
  
However, the auburn haired girl stopped as she reached the end of leafy enclosure and saw a folded piece of paper lying on the ground. It called up to her noticeably as her name was scrawled across the front in almost illegible katakana. Kairi stared at it for a moment, her eyebrow flexing at the thought that Sora had left again, before calming at the fact that this time he had left a note.  
  
She bent down slowly, grasping the edge with the tips of his fingers before standing up again. She blew the sheen of sand off of the front, meticulously wiping the film of remaining sand away with her slender fingers. Tucking a clump of hair behind her ear, only to have it fall out in stubbornness, Kairi opened the letter with a flick of the wrist.  
  
Inside the message read:  
  
  
  
_Kairi,  
  
Sorry to leave you like this again. I was going to say goodbye this time so you wouldn't get mad, but you were asleep and I didn't want to wake you, so this is the next best thing, right? Anyway, I have the feeling that something really bad is happening again, so I've gone to Disney Castle to talk to King Mickey. He should probably know more about the stuff that Riku was talking about last night and maybe he can tell us what's really going on. So, I guess I'll see you later today, okay?  
  
-Sora_  
  
  
  
"So he's left me all alone again?" she questioned to the air, glowering at the letter irritably before folding it crisply and tucking it into a hidden pocket within the folds of her skirt. "He ran away from Riku again. But what does he expect me to do? Does he think that just because I'm a Princess of Heart that I can go unravel Riku's and find out why he's so bitter?"  
  
The red-head rolled her eyes to the sky and rubbed her temples with her thumb and forefinger, damning men and their ability to either make things far too blunt or completely indirect.  
  
But really, what did Sora expect her to do with Riku? The silver haired boy was strangely apathetic, had callously claimed that he was dead inside, and didn't really seem to appreciate any form of help. How was she supposed to fix damage as deep as that when she didn't even understand why it was there?  
  
Of course she knew the basic gist of things: Riku had been manipulated, forced out of his body by a maniac, and then locked inside Kingdom Hearts with an army of Heartless looming the background.  
  
But what was Kairi supposed to glean from all that when she didn't really know how things had happened? There's too a great difference when you see things for yourself as opposed to hearing them fall from another's lips. Hindsight and convenient recollection have a habit of changing perspectives and events. The only other opinions that she could get were from Goofy and Donald - who had completely agreed with Sora when the story had originally been told.  
  
With a sigh, Kairi pushed aside the palm fronds and wandered from the Secret Place, looking for a familiar figure in black and not having to travel far to do so. From the look of it, Riku had been sitting at the edge of the waterfall quite a while, as the new wrinkles in his coat were quite prominent against the leather.   
  
Kairi tilted her head to the side, realizing how strange it was that how after they had screamed at each other Sora was the one who ran away, and Riku had sat down at the most pensive looking spot nearby. So different from what it used to be.  
  
The silver haired boy had not taken up to wearing his blindfold as a bandage across his eyes again. Instead, said cloth was dripping wet and wrapped around his head like an impromptu bandanna to send away some of the day's heat. But he was a statue, his eyes most resembling stone in their blankness as he stared down at the glassy surface of the water, where it was calm and his pale reflection could shine glaringly up at him in the sharp sunlight.  
  
The reflection's watery mixture of green and black and white and silver were almost too bright and too intense for her eyes, and the red-head quickly glanced away, before peering back shyly and letting her senses adjust. Kairi eyed the unbreakable stare between real Riku and reflection Riku wryly before speaking out.  
  
"Are you having a staring contest with yourself?" she asked lightly, silently praising the fact that she hasn't stuttered as horribly as she had last time she tried talking to him. She linked her hands behind her body and stooped forward in order to get to his eye level and look him in the face.  
  
He turned his head with an unnatural ease that looked like something out of a horror movie, and gazed at her for a moment, eyes narrow and somehow severe in their coldness as he placidly answered with a simple, "Maybe."  
  
"You don't have to be angry with me too you know," the girl retorted grumpily as she straitened out. She stretched her arms over her head languidly and looked down at the boy below her with half lidded eyes, doing her best to act natural while being the subject of his stone stare. The lethargic cat routine seemed a good enough choice.  
  
"That's all I can be."  
  
The reply was hollow, so sufficiently burning in its lack of caring that Kairi dropped her arms, stared down at Riku with her empathetic, lapis lazuli eyes, and blurted out the first thing that came to her.  
  
"No, Riku," she said frankly, her voice frosted with a foreign emotion that for a moment he couldn't place. But the forlorn look that had been born unto her features was enough to identify it. "You can be so much more then that. But I think . . . I think that maybe that's all you want to be."  
  
"What would you know?" He stood up at this point, looming over her and displaying a defense tactic that Kairi vaguely recalled learning about in school the previous year. What was it again? Something that had to do with a fish . . . puffer fish! Yes, like a puffer fish his was making himself feel bigger and more threatening than his enemy.  
  
Part of her absently wondered if this meant that Riku could feel fear along with anger, sorrow, and apathy.  
  
"I'm a Princess of Heart, remember?" the girl said outwardly, smiling a kind smile that did not reach her eyes as she looked up at his impassive face. "I'm supposed to be good at reading people."  
  
Riku was silent for a moment, looking down his nose at her in not rudeness but coldness, before he shook his head and said something so smooth that the mock smile on her face fell, "You don't know anything, so don't pretend Kairi, the world doesn't need that."  
  
The boy in black turned away at this point, probably thinking that the confrontation was over, that Kairi would fall down to the ground as a frail heroine like the first time, and that he could go muse to the seas. But alas, the red-head planned to fight back. There would be no sitting back and watching the people around her die as the stars fell and the world flew apart. Not this time.  
  
"Maybe I don't want to pretend for the world. Maybe I want to pretend for _you_," Kairi whispered, stopping the older boy from leaving her behind once again. She looked to the ground, too weak to stare at the back of his apathetic form any longer, not wanting to feel the chill radiating off of it. "You won't tell me what you want or what you feel, so maybe I think that that's what you need right now."  
  
"I . . . I don't need your lies."  
  
With that, Riku did walk away from her, sand spurting up violently from his heavy footfalls and the plant life almost seeming to shy away from his thin form. However, Kairi had learned something in the last twenty-four hours about this new Riku and shifted tactics.  
  
"Oh, so I can't lie for just a moment, but you can lie to yourself time and time again by walking away from your problems?" Kairi hissed incredulously, a soft anger underlying her tone. She folded her arms across her chest and shifted her weight, before narrowing her eyes and staring at the black coat as if trying to dig through it and under the skin. "This is the second time you've tried now. Do you really think that you can walk away from me just as easily as you did Sora?"  
  
"What?" he questioned, the word floating in the hostile air between them as he slowly turned back to face her, motions ethereal and fluent.  
  
Without warning, Kairi dropped her arms and stalked foreword across the sand with a purpose that Riku could not even guess. When she reached him, she didn't slow down in her momentum, only reared back and smacked him across the face with all the strength she had.  
  
Kairi's hand stung and the side of Riku's face was quickly darkening to red, her hand print splayed across his white skin and contrasting starkly with the rest of his face. His eyes were saucers as he stared off to the side, not yet having moved to look back down at the girl before him. But when he did, a foreign expression that is often referred to as 'deer in headlights' decorated his face.  
  
"Wha-" was all he managed to stutter out before Kairi's sour expression dissolved and she smiled up and him truthfully with an air of triumph, thus killing whatever he was going to say.  
  
The red head glanced towards the foaming sea for a split second, absently searching for someone or something lost in the foaming waves, before clasping both hands behind her back and turning to the lost male in front of her.  
  
"Part of you's still the same - you're predictable. The only times you've really reacted were when Sora was angry with you. I had to do it to get your attention," she murmured, smiling soft and sad, a serene look painted across her features. "So won't you let us help you Riku? Let me and Sora back inside?"  
  
"You and Sora . . ." was the faded reply; mild and corroded like an old photograph; questioning and blank and full of confusion. For a moment, something living sparked in Riku's blank eyes, but he snuffed the flame out as once with a sharp glare and tone. "You don't know what you're talking about."  
  
Once again, the older of the two began striding away, the shadows around him darkening even more. So, with admirable determination, the blue-eyed girl hardened and did her best to stop him from walking away.  
  
"Riku!" she screamed, voice cracking and frustration obvious in her tone and across her fine features. "Don't you dare do this again! Stop walking away from me! Get back here!"  
  
Kairi dashed to catch up to him, her footsteps sending sand flying upward in tragic curtains, creating tiny, untouchable prisms across the beach. She performed a classic Selphie move and latched onto his arm, as if doing so would stop him from being so obstinate. The green-eyed boy did stop moving, but his words sent her premature hopes to the grave.  
  
"Don't make me hit you back Kairi."  
  


* * *

  
Sora thrummed his sun-kissed fingers on the stark white table impatiently, a dark cloud swirling round his head menacingly as he glared at the ornate wall opposite of him; all the while envisioning the anger relieving possibilities of cream filled cupcakes and a mallet.  
  
The brunette was not known for his patience. In fact, he was known for his moody explosions of impatience. Yes, there had been some very ugly moments during the three years he had spent with Donald and Goofy searching for the door to Kingdom Hearts. It didn't help that Sora had been waiting for the last forty-one minutes with a knot of worry growing ever so slowly in his gut.  
  
Whether it was worry for the people he was supposed to meet or about the information he had come to discuss we'll never know, as on the forty-second minute Sora's angry silence was broken. One of the looming white doors at the end of the room creaked open, letting in the bizarre trio of a dog, a duck, and a mouse.  
  
"Sora!" Mickey Mouse cried out, his voice carrying loudly across the giant hall. He waved once as if the brunette was a good friend of his and that they got together all the time to chat, as opposed to the fact that the two had never really met. "Sorry to have kept ya waitin' pal - but I had to check up on some stuff that'll probably come up in our talk."  
  
Neither Donald Duck nor Goofy disagreed to this claim as the three finally reached the table that was positioned to the left of the red carpet that ran to the thrown in the room. The former titled his head toward Sora in a way that was strangely regal as he sat down, and the latter just waved with a big grin spread across his face before plopping into his own chair.  
  
Once the three were settled (with Mickey at the head, Sora to his left, and Donald and Goofy to his right), the king turned to Sora and cut to the chase, "So Sora, what was it that ya wanted to know? I'll do my best to answer any questions that ya got, so feel free to ask."  
  
Sora felt a little more then overwhelmed by the exuberant king who had eerily large ears, not to mention the carefree nature he nearly reeked or his annoyingly chipper voice. Somehow, the young Keybearer didn't doubt that the only reason the castle was so blatantly homey in and out was just to fit the king's wholesome nature.  
  
"Well," Sora started out, not feeling entirely comfortable as he shifted in his chair from invisible sand in his clothing. "I wanted to ask you Kin-"  
  
"Just call me Mickey," the mouse interrupted, his eyes spelling out apology as he stood up and held a hand out towards the brunette, who simply blinked at it like it was one of the strangest things he had ever seen. Then again, how many people are offered the opportunity to shake hands with a mouse? "We're gonna be pals now, right?"  
  
"Yeah, sure . . . Mickey," Sora replied, standing up himself and grabbing the gloved hand to shake it firmly, inwardly amazed at the solid grip of the mouse king before reminding himself that this was a person Donald and Goofy greatly respected. The two settled down once again, the tension-laced air much calmer then before.  
  
"Now what was it ya wanted to ask me?"  
  
"What '_mutatio_' means," Sora explained simply, spreading his hands outward in a form of visual confusion as he continued. "I know that literally it's a word for change, but what exactly is that supposed to mean?"  
  
The king watched the boy for a moment, the smile that usually adorned his face blown away for but a split second before he leaned forward, rested his chin on his folded hands, and asked of Sora, "Did ya talk to Riku?"  
  
"I-I did. But he kinda . . . lost it and started talking complete nonsense. Something about an unknown enemy and everything becoming nonexistent," the brunette said slowly, the words falling from his mouth carefully, almost as if discussing Riku's fit was something taboo. "He started say other words in that language too."  
  
"Do you remember them?"  
  
"Not really," Sora replied, sticking out his tongue and wrinkling his nose as he looked upward, eyes fogging as he tried to recall the memory. "They were something like '_loomens_,' '_taseeo_,' and '_core_.'"  
  
"'_Lumens_,' '_taceo_,' and '_cor_.' Light, silence, and heart," Mickey murmured, before adding something that Sora was probably not supposed to hear. "He never said those words before. It's gettin' worse."  
  
"'Gettin' worse?' What do you mean by that?" the blue-eyed boy snapped, his tone harsh from a form of worry. "What's going on Mickey?"  
  
"Lemme start from the beginnin' Sora, that'll make things a lot easier."  
  
The boy blinked for a moment at the words, but nodded in response.  
  
"Ya know that Ansem wrote reports 'bout the Heartless and Kingdom Hearts; and ya know that despite what he thought about power and darkness, pretty much anythin' that Ansem published or said is right," the king started. Somehow he had taken on the calm of a story teller façade, the annoyance of his squeaky voice subdued. "Ansem once said, 'every light must fade, every heart return to darkness.' Or in other words, 'every heart came from and will go back to Kingdom Hearts.'"  
  
Mickey paused here for a moment, almost looking like the dismayed speaker who had just realized they had forgotten to hide their glass of water in the podium. Sora fidgeted in his chair, wondering where this conversation was headed and not liking it one bit.  
  
But the silence was soon over as Mickey took a breath and started once again, "But there's one thing that Ansem didn't really talk about, and that was that hearts return to Kingdom Hearts. It's kinda like reincarnation - each time after death the heart goes back and gets cleaned out for the next life. But if the soul hasn't been removed from the heart, then the heart will get angry and useless. If the cycle were to completely stop because of this, then no one new would be born 'cause there wouldn't be a heart for them."  
  
"How do you know that that's true though?" was the first thing that came to Sora, his curiosity overwhelming the bad feeling in his gut for but a moment. "The fact that hearts return to Kingdom Hearts?"  
  
"Last time the doors were closed 'til the very end, but Ansem took control of the Riku and threw his heart out long before then; and Riku showed up in Kingdom Hearts," Mickey explained patiently, running his gloved hands over the smooth surface of the table as he continued. "It's the only answer that makes sense."  
  
"Why are you telling me this? What is it that you're getting to?" The warning in the pit of Sora's stomach was as strong as ever, showing itself through the crack in his voice as it pulsed and tightened its grip.  
  
"This shouldn't make total sense to ya yet, so think 'bout it for a minute Sora. We closed Kingdom Hearts, 'cause when it was open worlds began to die. But if Kingdom Hearts has always been closed, and was opened by chance when Ansem began his experiments with the Heartless, then how did hearts ever return?"  
  
"They . . . they couldn't," the brunette boy realized, the knot tightening even more. "They'd have to go through the doors."  
  
"Exactly Sora!" Mickey praised, looking far too joyous for what the sullen moment of realization required. "The doors are closed now and everybody in the last three years has been stillborn because they have no heart. Eventually, everythin' is gonna stop if Kingdom Hearts isn't opened."  
  
Sora stared blankly, a frustration rising in him as he cried out, "We need to open the doors?! But how's that going to work?! You saw first-hand what happened last time they were opened!"  
  
"Well, after bein' there for three years, I think I've got the right answer. I don't think we need the doors to be physically open - they weren't for ages, and if we did open them, someone would try to summon the Heartless and another Ansem would be born," Mickey said factually with the wave of his index finger. "What we need is for the doors to be unlocked; open for only hearts to enter and leave. I think the doors were never really closed in the first place and that we did somethin' we shouldn't have when we sealed them shut."  
  
"Wait a minute Mickey . . . this isn't making sense. From what you've said, all we need to do is open the door. But, you've been making it sound a lot more serious then that. Is something else going on?" Sora asked, unable to see a more serious threat from the information he had been given.  
  
"You're right, the problem's a lot worse then that. As Riku said to you, a third enemy, a new one, is being born," the king said, sighing in a way that seemed quite out of character for him. "The hearts don't have anywhere to go and heart isn't true without a body. They're becomin' nonexistent - they're becomin' a Nobody."  
  
"So everything is becoming nonexistent. Everyone is becoming a no one . . . a Nobody," Sora confirmed, resting his chin on his right hand as he thought about the new development. "But what's a Nobody?"  
  
"The exact opposite of a Heartless. They're like ghosts 'cause they've got complete memories and they're not supposed to be part of this world, or any world for that matter," the mouse murmured.  
  
"Gwash . . ." Goofy whispered under his breath, titling his head back as he stared up at the ceiling and made his forgotten presence known. "So, a Heartless is a body without a heart and a Nobody is a heart without a body?"  
  
"Be quiet!" Donald hissed back, glaring over at the dog man and looking very sour indeed.  
  
Mickey sent a smile over to his mage and knight, appreciating their humors before continuing, "The Nobody are lookin' for a path to Kingdom Hearts through people's hearts - rippin' apart their body to get to it, and only formin' a new Nobody in the process. And they're gettin' smarter - they've figured out that the Keyholes are connected to the door to Kingdom Hearts, and at this rate the stars are gonna start blinking out again."  
  
"So we have to stop them," Sora said firmly, nodding his head as the familiar feeling of having the order of the universe rest on his shoulders rushed into him. "But I have one more question: how are we going to find the door to Kingdom Hearts? Donald and Goofy and I spent years looking and we never found it!"  
  
"That's somethin' I dunno," Mickey said with a sigh, reaching up to rub he forehead tiredly. "But Riku does."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I've told you that '_mutatio_' means change. '_Lumens_,' '_taceo_,' and '_cor_' mean light, silence, and heart," the king explained. "They're all words of the language of the heart. Which is why they probably seem familiar to you. Tell me Sora, what'd ya hear when every time ya sealed a world or when you saw another star blink out?"  
  
The brunette closed his eyes, tilting his head back leisurely as he thought for a moment of each time he had lifted the Keyblade up and a world's heart had clicked shut. He was speaking softly, tone gentle and melodic, before he knew it, "Every time I could heard a song that seemed to be part of the world itself - but only for seconds at a time. It could be like a great choir bursting outward and full of happiness. But other times it was a sad ballad that ended sharp and abruptly or it was a fading tune whose notes were creaking . . . and those times you couldn't doubt that the singer was dying."  
  
"Your Keyblade is made for the worlds and that's why ya hear their songs - those songs are like what Riku's hearin'. But his Keyblade masters hearts of people, and all he can hear are empty hearts with no where to go - speakin' to him before they become nothing and leave the parallel world of Kingdom Hearts. The Nobody can't exist in there, so the hearts are callin' him to come, telling him where to go before they gotta leave."  
  
"So only Riku knows where Kingdom Hearts is?" Sora confirmed, receiving a nod in response as he brought a fist up to his chin in thought. "We just need him to talk; and he has to . . . it is for the sake of life as we know it after all."  
  
"I've been with him for the last couple of years and ya won't get him to say a word with an attitude like that, Sora," Mickey said evenly, his tone like a teacher's, scolding yet encouraging at the same time. "Step in his shoes and you'll figure out why. Then you'll be able to come up with the right words."  
  
"Step into his shoes . . ." the brunette murmured, suddenly subdued as he attempted to imagine that scenario for a split second and realized that he couldn't. His desire not to was achingly strong and when he pushed against it, tapped against the barrier in his skull, he burned. Skin blackening and peeling back in thick, greasy folds all because of one thing that he had not realized until that point: the silver tracks were frighteningly hollow to him and if he were to follow their path he would find a destination he wasn't sure he wanted to see yet.  
  
Those footsteps scared him.  
  
**To be continued . . .**   
  
  
  
Yay! Kairi bitch-slapped Riku! *falls off of chair cackling* Oh, that's lovely and fun! Go Kairi! ^_^ Anyway, I like this chapter better then the last one although the second half of this was not fun . . . it was all dialogue and was therefore quite draining, the impossible-to-write-Mickey was in it, and when I was adding in the moments of action/description I kept looking at my page count and going, "Oh shit! It's too long!" Each chapter in this story is the same length of seven pages, with the seventh page being variable in its length. This time the seventh page is completely full. But hey . . . I completely know what's going to happen now. ^_^ By the way, anyone notice the screwy foreshadowing during Sora's blurb? He waiting for 42 minutes before getting answers. For all who have read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you should know that 42 is the answer to life . . . or in this case, the plot. Yes readers, I am lame. But you, another interesting (yet creepy) thing is I was looking through things earlier and realized that all three chapters before this start with a description about Sora and end with a line about Riku. Eerie . . . Oh! Before you go, Mizu's new goal is getting double digits in reviews for this story. That's only four more people; so please, click that button below and show your love!  
  
I thought that I should probably explain how I intend to go with this once again so there won't be any confusion. So . . . there will be Deep Dive, Special Secret, and Tokyo Game Show Preview references. However, there are some things that will not appear: the faceless blonde boy, the mysterious comments made by the multiple black coat men, and Ansem's last three reports. Why? Well, I don't want to have to deal with making up a new character and getting grief because of it, the black coat men confuse me, and in Ansem's reports the Nobody are completely different. Also because I said so.  
  
And now for the shameless self-plug: Did you like this story? Then go read my other KH fic, Yellow Coats. It's my KH baby and it needs some love. Not only that, but it's nice, spiffy, and gots symbolism!  
  
To my reviewer (yes, that's singular *sob*) . . . I love you . . .  
**Rurouni Saiyan:** Yay - I'm glad you like! ^_^ I was feeling quite poorly about the last chapter . . . it was just evil in general I think. Liberi Fatali is pretty, isn't it? *sigh* Just like the FF VIII opening video. Anyway, thanks for your review! 


	5. The Deep End

You guys'll have to excuse the delay in this chapter. I downloaded the E3 previews for KHII and CoM, which caused inspiration and caused revision of some things to come. Then I had my carpal tunnel syndrome scare that was not only painful, but stopped me from getting on any computers for a week or two. Then I left the country for a month and had fun in the UK and France. Yay! So basically, this chapter could have been done a month and a half ago. Meh. I'm not particularly fond of this chapter either . . . nor am I un-fond of it like I am of chapter III. It's probably just because the basic writing has been done for this part and was left sitting around waiting to be edited for a month. shrugs Whatever. Okay, I'll stop babbling now and let you all read.  
  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts. If I did, I'd have a computer that works properly. nods Yes, but I don't have such a computer and I don't own KH. In fact, the owners happen to be Disney and Squaresoft. So don't sue, because I don't have any money to give you. Remember, I'm trying to get a nice computer here . . . or at least a better OS. Curse you Windows ME . . .   
  
**Story Key:**   
italics = emphasis   
". . ." = speaking   
= scene switch   
  
Anyway, onto the fic . . .

**Open Up   
Part V: The Deep End**  
  
The first thing Sora heard when he returned to the Destiny Islands was a pleasant change and certainly like nothing that he had heard in a long time. It was the sound of a melodic voice slanting through the sun-streaked air in a zigzag of invisible color. It would have completely wiped his slate clean of the stress that had accumulated there, fatal like the clogs in an old man's arteries, had it been a different singer. But the fact that it was Riku singing made all the difference.  
  
"_Estuans interius . . . ira vehementi_."  
  
For one thing, Riku had never been one to suddenly burst out into song. In fact, the last time Riku had sung was in parody of Wakka's horrible audition for the lead role in a school sponsored musical. That event had been rather humorous: Wakka had showered Riku with a barrage of blitzballs in a strange display of angered amusement after the younger boy had yowled in an eerily perfect imitation of him.  
  
But this new song had a violent flavored undertone that seemed to grow more and more noticeable as each second passed. The words were quick and bitter as they floated through the air, sharply tugging at Sora's senses when he realized that they were in the reoccurring language of the heart.  
  
"_Sors immanis . . . et inanis_."  
  
He was seriously beginning to hate this new lingua. He hated it and the fact that it continued to coax him with its familiarity without bothering to explain itself. It was almost embarrassing that he, the first Keybearer, didn't even know the language that came with his job while King Mickey and Riku did. Then again, when it was spoken in his dreams he understood the words perfectly and could even reply in the same gibberish if he felt the need.  
  
"_Veni, veni, venias . . . ne me mori facias_."  
  
Sora grumbled some rather impolite things under his breath, the song influencing his mood with its calls of hostility, before he headed off to find Kairi. He needed to tell her what he had learned of from King Mickey, not to mention ask her if she had made any developments with their black-clad friend. That is, if there had been any.  
  
He found the red-head sitting cross-legged on the sand, staring down at a needle and a loaded string, and somehow staying modest while wearing a skirt in such a position. She was frowning slightly as she stared at the knotted threats before unlooping the black string and skillfully retying the knot in a tight ring around the back of the shell, securing it snugly.  
  
She grinned in triumph at this point, leaning a hand back into the sand before pushing back a clump of hair with the same hand and leaving a slight trace of crystal across her brow. Kairi did not rest for long though, as she soon reached into the rust-colored, terra cotta bowl beside her, fumbling for another thalassa shell.  
  
Sora watched the girl for several minutes, delicate in her work as she carefully strung the necklace and laced it together in a complex set of knots and ties that would keep it from unraveling.  
  
"Hey Kairi," the brunette suddenly said in greeting with a little wave, causing the girl to start and nearly drop her masterpiece into the sand as she stared up at him with wide, startled eyes.  
  
"Sora! I didn't hear you!" the blue-eyed girl cried, grinning before holding up the half-finished strand of polished shells up into the light. "Look - I'm making another necklace out of thalassa shells since I lost the other one. I've been collecting them to make something and this just seemed like the perfect thing to do. I guess that maybe if we go on another adventure, I'll remember to bring them along and they'll keep us safe this time."  
  
"Yeah, maybe that'll work," Sora agreed dubiously, trying to humor her. He eyed the glossy strand of jewelry and wondered if Kairi had any idea as to how soon the next adventure was going to be.  
  
With an exaggerated sigh that caught Kairi's attention and curiosity, the Keybearer plopped down next to her, slumping forward and resting his chin in his right hand while tapping his thigh with the other. His blatant signals worked wonders as the auburn haired girl quickly set her work to the side and asked what the matter was.  
  
"Well, we have a problem," he started bluntly before reiterating what the King of Disney Castle had told him in short, clipped tones. By the time he had finished the tale, Kairi's attitude had transformed from cheer to something far more somber and in control than it had been earlier.  
  
"So . . . what we gotta get Riku to tell us where Kingdom Hearts is so you can open the doors?" she asked in order to clarify the tale, receiving a positive nod in response. She remained silent for a moment, head tilted to the side as she picked at the sand she was sitting upon, grinding the grains between her fingers sharply. It was only moments later when her eyes refocused on Sora with an eerie flash of resolution within them. "You have to save the world again, huh? Well fine, I can handle that. But I'm coming with you this time."  
  
Sora blinked stupidly before retorting with an all-knowing smirk and a tone that suggested that Kairi had gone mad, "Um, no you're not," he shook his head at this point, as if visual demonstration would help his case. "It's _way_ too dangerous. Plus, you'll just get in the way. I can't fight and worry about you at the same time."  
  
"You won't have to - I can take care of myself just as well as you can yourself!" the girl snapped in defense, eyes narrowed and biting as she gave him 'the look,' before softening. "You haven't been around to see what I'm capable of, Sora, so don't judge me on how I was before. Besides, I'm not going to stay behind and be useless this time - I'm going to fight whether you like it or not."  
  
"But you . . . you can't-" Sora started, rather flabbergasted at the fact that the girl hadn't been so easily convinced of staying behind as she had when he had left her in Traverse Town during the first adventure.  
  
"Yes I can," Kairi interrupted sternly, jabbing a finger at the Keybearer. "And don't you try to stop me."  
  
A silence fell over the two of them and Kairi returned to her careful beading, glaring at the mess and resolutely continuing her work with quick precision. Sora meanwhile shifted uncomfortably in the hot sunlight, just realizing the steaming heat as he tugged at his neckline.  
  
The weather was that of a perfect day - azure sky strewn with puffs of cotton and a faint breeze sweeping across the baked islands dotting the sea. The ocean itself was a continent of blue glass, foaming across the receded shoreline as if swept up in waves of melted crystal and cerulean fire. Waxy green brush and palms contrasted brightly against the sands of the island, large flowers blooming in colorful arrays of magenta and gold.  
  
But it felt strange to Sora, how despite this picturesque weather, no one from any of the other islands had come to Mirai to hang out or even check up on the group. He frowned at this thought, rewinding and making sure that yes, Kairi had told people where they were going. So why hadn't Selphie, Tidus, or Wakka come after the storm to make sure they were all right? Where was everyone?  
  
"Kairi," Sora started slowly, staring out at Fate Island in the distance, worry clouding his eyes in a sudden urgency to get this new adventure moving. He almost asked her where everyone was and why they hadn't shown up yet, but stopped himself as a desire to not worry her dominated his thoughts and caused him to instead blurt out, "How's Riku?"  
  
Sora winced at his choice of subjects and waited for the atmosphere to darken with the question. However, it was quite the contrary as Kairi stared at him for a moment before a skewed grin spread across her face for a memory that only she could see.  
  
"How's Riku? He's stupid. Really, really stupid," Kairi replied with a small laugh, rolling her eyes slightly as she continued. "I mean, for one thing, he threatened to hit me."  
  
"He _what_?!" The shriek was in high-pitch, slicing through atoms from its shrillness and completely startling Kairi. She stared at Sora blankly, one eyebrow cocked at the boy's heightened vocals before smiling once again.  
  
"Okay, maybe that was the wrong way to start," she admitted with a shrug. "I did hit him first after all."  
  
"You _what_?!" Sora blathered once again, face paling and tone sounding absolutely scandalized at the same time. It was quite obvious that he hadn't been expecting that sort of response.  
  
"He wasn't listening to me," Kairi explained with a scowl and a clenched fist, the memory flashing before her eyes in the wisp of a cloud. "Like I said, he was being a complete moron and wouldn't hear a word I said."  
  
"So you hit him?!" Sora cried out, his tone nearly screeching blasphemy for the act as he clearly seemed to think violence wasn't the answer; at least, not violence from Kairi.  
  
"Well, yeah. I had to get his attention," the girl replied darkly. The unspoken 'What else did you expect me to do? Sit there are take his garbage?' was eerily clear in the momentary silence before Sora threw his hands outward and stared at Kairi with bugged eyes before exclaiming once again.  
  
"And he was going to hit you back?!"  
  
Kairi didn't have a quick defensive response for this question. Instead she tilted her head to the side, placed a hand under her chin in the epitome of consideration, and allowed a pensive expression to lace her fine features in the form of a weary, crinkled brow and puckered lips jutting out just the slightest. The words came out as she came up with them.  
  
"I don't think he wanted to really . . . he didn't want to talk and I just, I was being annoying," the red-head replied honestly, almost snorting at the understatement. "He threatened me and that was terrifying for a second. But then he just . . . broke and looked so afraid before walking away. If I'm right - I think I was doing a pretty good job at cracking that mask of his, so he probably wanted to go glue it back together."  
  
"If you're right?" Sora questioned, his horrified manner dampening immediately. "What's that supposed to mean? Right about what?"  
  
Kairi frowned, tilting her head forward in thought, red strands brushing forward across her face from the motion. She swatted at them in exasperation before continuing.  
  
"Well, I know I called him a shell yesterday, but it's more like he's wearing a shell instead of being one . . . because sometimes you can tell that there's something inside," she said sluggishly, as if saying the words in such a way would make them easier to understand. "It's just . . . it's just weird talking to him - he's so two-faced. I mean, one minute he's acting all cool and detached, but then, when you do something right, absolutely _right_ in a way that shows he doesn't need to doubt you, he'll lose his composure and shift back into normal Riku. But it doesn't last very long, because he'll catch himself and be he gone again."  
  
Sora blinked at her for a moment, trying to comprehend the speech by shortening it into a few good catch phrases, such as 'Riku's acting weird' and 'Riku's lying to us.' After that process he blinked again before questioning, "So, are you saying that he's acting like this on purpose?"  
  
"I'm starting to think so. I mean, I think that maybe he figures that this time, instead of lashing out, if he keeps it all inside, nothing bad'll happen. Maybe that's why he won't open up - because the worlds are falling apart again and he doesn't want history to repeat itself."  
  
"Kingdom Hearts really messed him up."  
  
It was a simple statement, maybe a little cruel in its ignorance and lack of concern regarding empathy, but Kairi's hackles rose in a flurry of feathers and spikes at the words, her eyes turning to ice.  
  
"I don't think that anything really happened in Kingdom Hearts, Sora," the red-head told him brazenly, eyeing the Keybearer with a stern glance as she tucked a clump of hair back behind her ear. "At least not to make him like this."  
  
"What else is there then?"  
  
"Guilt," Kairi said, trying to get a point across and having a difficult time at it as her eloquence with words seemed to vanish right then and there. "It . . . it does strange things to people."  
  
"_Guilt_? What are you talking about?" the brunette replied incredulously, his voice dripping with an uncharacteristic scorn as he gaped at Kairi like she was insane. "What does guilt have to do with anything?"  
  
"Don't come to conclusions when you haven't been where he's been or seen what he's seen!" Kairi snapped back, her own look aghast at how Sora didn't seem to get that. "Riku tried to kill you, Sora! Multiple times! Yeah, he wasn't exactly in the right mind at that point, but he made the decisions that got him there!"  
  
"But Maleficent was the one who-" Sora started defensively, only to be promptly cut off.  
  
"The one who manipulated him?!" the teenage girl screeched, throwing her hands out furiously, eyes flashing like melted sapphires in her sudden passion. Her voice was shrill in the air, drowning out Riku's song that still lilted in the background as she continued. "Sora, he chose to trust Maleficent because for some reason he didn't think that he could trust you!"  
  
The brunette flinched at this verbal attack, and the eyes of his counterpart widened in shock at what she just said before a hand flew up to her mouth in a pathetic and far too late attempt to stop the words from coming out.  
  
"S-Sora, I . . . I'm sorry," she choked out, regret clogging her tone thickly as she reached out to touch him, only to flinch and drop her hand down centimeters away from him. "I-I didn't mean it like that. I-I wasn't thinking-"  
  
"Just leave me alone Kairi," Sora snarled, electric blue eyes ossifying into cold, unfeeling orbs before he turned and stalked away across the sands, crystal, gossamer curtains flying into the air with each step.  
  
"Sora," Kairi said suddenly, catching him in mid-step as he whirled around to face her back. The red-head's tone was bleak as she faced the salt stained sea as it rolled back from the island shores in giant, living spirals of foam. "Don't leave again. You're expecting too much of me; I can't patch things up for you when I can't even do it for myself."  
  
He scoffed lightly, far too angry to really appreciate or understand the words, the red storming throughout him in a massive crash of lighting, wind, and fire, consuming his normal rationality. The stress of the past three days had snapped him like a willow branch, the splinters flying through the wind and stabbing everyone around him, blood falling like rain.  
  
It's not that he wanted to be angry; for some reason he just couldn't help it.

  
  
Kairi imagined that Guilt was a pale-robed and jealous goddess who had done something wrong and couldn't figure out what, so she touched everyone else with her confused emotions and caused deceit to fester with each finger she would lay upon one's shoulder, giggling as the guilt grew. It also seemed that the goddess was hovering over Kairi's form with a cackle, a white hand clutching each shoulder and tightening the tensioned knots there.  
  
The red-head was seated on a rather large piece of driftwood where the raft had been docked years earlier, the sanded surface folding into her frail form as the waves lapped at her feet gently. Her slender hands were absently stroking the wood, tracing the veins of color and the life-lines across the surface of what was large enough to have once been a tree. Kairi was sitting like this, looking out blankly into the sea with her thoughts as Guilt quoted her memory in a sly whisper:  
  
'_For some reason he didn't think that he could trust you!_'  
  
A shudder ran through Kairi's form at her earlier words, wondering what in the world had possessed her to say such a thing, let alone so bluntly. She had never picked up the unfortunate habit that Selphie had - the uncontrollable urge to blurt out every thought and emotion that came to mind. She felt it wiser to keep her crueler comments to herself because at times they dug a little too deep. Yet, the younger girl's trait had possessed her earlier.  
  
It was odd how her heart had twisted at the time, a feeling that was foreign and strange with its bizarre tugging motion. It was almost like something had wanted her to snap at Sora; like something had provided all of the anger and had just left her to use it in the most effective and punishing way. But was that even possible? Was it possible for something to influence her heart that much?  
  
No, probably not. She was just imagining things, coming up with excuses when the fault was all hers and no one else's.  
  
Freudian theology would have suggested that Kairi's spastic moment was the form of a true desire she held deep within her mind, that her cruel words had been something that had been wanting to burst out for a long time. Then it would have somehow related the moment to sexual ambitions. Usually the seventeen-year-old would have laughed at such a thought, but her musings had drifted into the melodramatic and she was getting quite emotional as she lamented over the horrors of Id and her destructive, 'inner desires.'  
  
It made more sense then her other theory. Right?  
  
While Kairi was reflecting, completely enraptured in her angst, a dark figure had strode into her path of sight, hovering before her still form for a moment before sitting to her left on the makeshift bench. Riku soon turned to the sea, watching the birds and the nothingness with her, tucking stray threads of silver behind his ear absently.  
  
She didn't even notice his presence for several minutes, but when she did, she welcomed him with the slightest of glances in his direction, and even that was detached. For the moment it was not Riku who radiated the most pain and he could see that.  
  
"You shouldn't be sad like this all the time," the green-eyed boy murmured abruptly, turning to face his friend fluidly, eyes blank but for some reason not seeming nearly as shallow as they had earlier. "These are our salad days. We can't let them die out."  
  
"'Salad days?'" Kairi asked, looking over towards him curiously, her previous train of thought crashing in the station. She cocked an eyebrow at him, skeptically wondering if this was some bizarre attempt to cheer her up.  
  
"You know, _these days_," Riku replied, pausing and clenched his hand in the air, searching for the right words to explain what he had meant. "Our . . . our salad days. The days right now - our happy days."  
  
"'Happy days?'"  
  
She wanted to point out how ironic that comment was coming from him, but remained silent toward the issue. The tide was rolling in with masses of foaming silver, crashing down on itself as the sun began its descent into the waters, turning the liquid tinsel into an ocean of the reddest blood. Kairi shivered.  
  
"Really Kairi," the boy next to her said suddenly, starting the conversation up once again in a renewed effort that he hadn't made before. "Sadness doesn't suit you. If any one of us should be happy - it should be you. You deserve it."  
  
"Don't we all deserve happiness?" the girl replied, turning to face him seriously and forcing eye contact with him, no longer flinching at the sight of the flat disks that stared back at her. "Isn't happiness meant for everyone Riku?"  
  
"In some form or another."  
  
"Then why won't you see that?"  
  
"Why won't you?" the star-haired boy countered, an old smirk flashing across his face for a moment in the comeback, the arrogance living and breathing again for just a second before it was suppressed once again.  
  
"Me?" she asked incredulously, pointing to her chest like Riku's suggestion had been the most ludicrous thing she had heard for years, but really reveling in the flash of emotion she had caught. "How can I not be sad? The world is falling apart all over again and this time I'm not sure things are going to work out."  
  
"Then think of the good things in life," Riku replied as he looked away from her once again, but not closing himself off from her as his aura did not darken nor his eyes slant. "Take all of the things precious to you and hold them close to your heart, may you not see them again."  
  
He had a hand placed over his chest as he said that and with that image before her, the girl could not think of anything to say. So she asked the first question that came to mind: "What good things?"  
  
"Like all of this," Riku explained, waving his pale hand out to the sunset painted sea, the glowing colors reaching out to his fingers and wrapping themselves around each digit in beams of kaleidoscopic light. For a moment he looked alive again, with that brightness filtering through him, melding into each strand of his hair, tinting his skin a healthy bronze color, and daubing specks of auburn into his aquamarine eyes. "All of this should mean the world to you Kairi."  
  
Sadly she watched the light wrap round him before fading and turning him into a wraith once again, wishing she had the strength to cry as she spoke into the evensong sky, "How can I find good in it if you won't? You're part of it too, not just Sora and me and everyone else. You're stuck here too in this place where 'everyone grows up to be a stupid fisherman.'"  
  
Her mock-quote of him had been from years earlier when he had been speaking of far off worlds, complaining about the lack of occupations that the Destiny Islands offered in a speech that had sounded rather inspiring at the time.  
  
"I want to get out of here and have a real life that means something," he had declared, eyes sparkling as he swung he legs on the edge of the dock, barely scratching the surface of the water, but sending droplets into the air. "Here, everyone grows up to be a stupid fisherman, but I want to go somewhere and be someone that everyone will remember for years after I'm gone. I'm someone and everyone should know! I don't care what it takes, but I want to go, I don't want to be chained to a boat for the rest of my life!"  
  
That had been the turning point for him. That day had birthed the idea of building the raft and visiting other worlds in search of a something that they thought couldn't be found at home. It had been nearly a year when the plan went into action, but that-  
  
"I don't know," a soft voice interrupted, calling Kairi back into reality with a snap as she jumped slightly and blinked over at Riku, who was looking pensively out into the waves, which had become a darker red. "I've been thinking about it for a while . . . and I think that at some point, I'd like to be a fisherman. Just for a little while; to see what it's like."  
  
The redhead was nearly wordless at the confession, only able to come up with, "If only for a little while, what else would you do?"  
  
"I think I'd like to be a teacher sometime," the boy said, turning over to face her and forgetting himself just for a moment as he flashed a small smile that was real and true. He sparkled, somehow enjoying the flabbergasted look draped across her features, before turning back out to the sea. "I want to be one of those interesting teachers, you know, one of the ones who can get kids go home to their parents and say, 'Look what I learned today!' and have it be one of those boring things that everyone hates, but they'd be totally enthused about it. I want to be able to show people things and make it fascinating and I want to be amazed when I read their papers and discover that there's something in them."  
  
The declaration was idealistic in a way that only young people can manage, but Kairi felt the meaning behind it and felt a new confidence rise in herself and everything that was happening. With a grin aimed toward the twilight and the ocean, she felt all the more better.  
  
"Riku, for some reason, I think our salad days are just beginning."  
  
He replied with nothing more than a small, almost invisible smile that spoke volumes, shyly agreeing with silent words that fluttered through the air like a new and beautiful creature against the sunset sky and the bloodied sea.  
  
_Yes . . . maybe they are._  
  
**To be continued . . .**According to , salad days are described as a "time of youthful inexperience, innocence, or indiscretion." I love new phrases like that. Ahem. So, now everyone is angry at each other at the moment because they're all being spastic and fulfilling their 'inner desires.' Or are they? Mwahaha. If you're wondering, Riku's song this time is One-Winged Angel from Final Fantasy VII . . . it was the only song I could find in Latin, so I made do and took Sephiroth's name out of the lyrics. shrug Speaking of stuff in this chapter, I really have no idea where Teacher!Riku came from, but it seems to fit in my opinion. I'll figure out exactly how someday . . . anyway, not sure when the next chapter will be . . . according to my schedule that allows me to finish this before KHII and CoM, it was supposed to be posted at the time that I'm posting this chapter. Guess I need to pull off another miracle like I did for the last chapter, eh? I also have more of part VII written than I do of part VI at the moment. Ugh.   
  
And now for the shameless self-plug: Did you like this story? Then go read my other KH fic, Yellow Coats. It's nice, spiffy, gots symbolism, and needs some love. nods Yes.  
  
To my lovely reviewers . . . the most I've had at one time . . . feel the love . . .  
**Rurouni Saiyan:** Yes, you were my only person and I love you for that! hugs I haven't played FF VIII either . . . I started, didn't save, then the power went out. I've been too lazy to play anymore because I don't want to do the beginning again.   
**Princess of Mirrors:** Yeah, everyone has issues with each other right now. lol I would have so slapped Riku too though. Then again I have a short temper. -- BTW: Thanks for giving me such a long review! I saw it and went completely bug-eyed!  
**Kryal:** Eeep! Shh! looks around frantically Don't tell anyone what you know! You've sorta guessed something that you aren't supposed to know yet (you'll know which guess via this chapter)! Anyway, thanks for your lovely, thoughtful review.  
**bwilbur:** Yay! Much thanks for giving me double digits - I never thought I would get here! But yeah, I totally agree with you about the KH section - most of the fan fics are kinda horrible . . . thanks so much for thinking I'm out of the box! 


	6. Hand In Hand

Well . . . I haven't been around for a while. Why? Well, two things really: 1) I hate this chapter and it resulted in writer's block and nine extra pages of crap as I struggled through it (it's still horrid, but I'm sick of looking at it), and 2) I lost interest in KH for a while, even with CoM and all the new fun KHII stuff. You do get an extra 3/4 of a page though and most of the next chapter is written.

Regarding last chapter, I am overjoyed by the fact that my number of reviews doubled. I'm also overjoyed that You guys are reviewers who aren't afraid to give me some good criticism when you feel I need it. The controversial Riku/Kairi scene provided so many different reactions - it's nice to see that I'm appealing to different types of people who want different types of things in a story. Yet, the scene itself was done to set up a latter scene, which it seems that I probably won't be using now. --

One more thing: this fan fic was planned in its entirety before the release of Chain of Memories, or the soon to be Kingdom Hearts II. Those games shall change nothing in this fic and Open Up is now officially an AU because nothing even remotely matches up (except this one part in this chapter that's vaguely similar and it was kinda creepy when I played CoM, because the scene was written before the game came out).

Well, gonna shut up now and let you guys read. Have fun! 

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts. If I did, I'd have a really fancy computer that doesn't die for months at a time. nods Yes, but I don't have such a computer and I don't own KH. In fact, the owners happen to be Disney and Square-enix. So don't sue, because I just don't have any money to give you.

**Story Key:**  
italics emphasis  
". . ." speaking  
**- - -** scene switch (asterisks went to hell, damn you enter minus signs)  
'. . .' quotes

Anyway, onto the fic . . .

**Open Up  
Part VI: Hand In Hand**

"What are you doing here?"

The question sounded far more hostile than what was probably intended, but Sora winced none-the-less, feeling a bit guilty and wondering if this was really a good idea as Kairi stared at the book she had been reading unblinkingly, apparently refusing to even look at him.

When he was a little kid, Sora's mother had cheerfully told him 'The Facts of Life,' one being: 'If you want to make girls happy Sora, just remember, we're always right and it's never our fault!' Somehow, this seemed to be one of those situations.

After stomping away like an angry teenager and pouting under the star tree until night had fallen, Sora had decided that it would be best to go and apologize to Kairi . . . and maybe Riku if he could build up the courage.

Either way, in all of his philosophical musings, the brunette had decided that he had been a proper jerk and that that needed to be remedied.

These last four days were the ones that Sora had been waiting for for three years now. They were the days that involved finding Riku and reuniting with Kairi. And so far, they had turned out to be downright miserable. Everyone was mad at each other – scratch that, everyone was mad at him and it was a horrible feeling. Quite the opposite of the fairy tale vision he had been hoping for, as he had instigated half of it.

Then again, it was almost like something had made him act like he had. Or at least, influenced those actions, dug into his fears and brought out an uncharacteristic cowardice. But that was impossible, wasn't it? Your heart couldn't betray you in such a way, could it? No, that was crazy and there was no point in trying to direct the blame away from himself.

A tugging in his heart? Hah! That was just ridi-

"Well, what are you seeing me for?" a voice demanded abruptly, prying through Sora's thoughts and snapping him back into reality. Kairi was now looking up from the book she had been pretending to read with an annoyed glare. "Shouldn't you be interrogating Riku about saving the world?"

Sora winced again, making sure to look at anything that wasn't Kairi. It wasn't hard either, as the camping gear was still spread haphazardly across the floor of the cave. Therefore he settled on eyeing the dull glow of the lone lamp, as he started to speak.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry," he mumbled as Kairi started turning the page of her book, halting the girl in mid-motion. "I've been a jerk for the past couple of days."

The red-head said nothing, only continued to stare at the book in her lap motionlessly. Not even her shadow, warped across the cave walls, moved. This was quite un-encouraging for Sora, who was looking rather pitiful at this point, so he opened his mouth to continue.

"Why are you apologizing?" Kairi suddenly asked, turning fluidly to look up at the boy. Her dark eyes were sad and she gave him a tired smile. "I'm the one who should be sorry after all."

Sora blinked, a bit surprised at the confession, wondering if his mother was wrong after all.

"And I _am_ sorry for what I said to you," the red-head continued, looking pensively out at the chalky scribblings that littered the walls. Her fingers traced the words in her book absently, as if she were using them to follow the lines and read easier. "I'm not really sure what came over me – it was almost like something was tugging at my heartstrings and I just went along with it. But that's silly, isn't it? I said what I said because it's what _I_ felt like saying at the time."

The Keybearer was shocked at her words, wondering if the stings he had felt in his heart weren't just his imagination if she was feeling them too. They couldn't both be delusional, could they?

"You feel it too?" he blurted out before he could stop himself, the girl instantly directing her attention to him with wide eyes. "Do you feel something in your heart telling you what to do too? Like a tugging that you only really realize was there after it's gone?"

Kairi set her book down this time, closing it without a marker and losing the story that she hadn't really been reading in the first place. "I thought I was just imagining it, or trying to find something to pin the blame on. But if you feel it too, Sora . . . then I'm not going crazy or anything, right?"

"Not anymore crazy than me," Sora replied with a sunny grin that slowly faded back into a confused frown. "I don't understand though – since it is real, what is it and where did it come from?"

"It's something that almost feels like it wants to bring out all of the volatile emotions. All of the thoughts that you think, but never really intend to say to anyone," Kairi mused to her friend, absently pushing back a lock of hair and wrapping her arms around her legs in a mock fetal position. "And I didn't feel it until Riku showed up."

"That right," Sora murmured, tapping at his chin with his index finger in his classic thinking pose. "But I don't think it's him. In fact, I'm sure it isn't him. Maybe something else came with him through the door?"

"Maybe," the red-head replied, the tired expression on her pale face rather distasteful. "Either way, I think we should all go to Disney Castle and sort out all of the problems there with King Mickey. Somehow, I think he probably has a better grasp on what's going on than any of us, even Riku."

"Sounds good to me," Sora stated, languidly stretching his arms back and yawning at the late hour. With the roll of his shoulders and the faint smacking of lips, the brunette started walking towards the cave entrance.

"Where are you going Sora?" Kairi called after him, tilting her head to the side cutely, a mask of confusion coloring her features. "It's dark out – shouldn't you stay here and get some rest?"

"I'm going to go for a walk," the boy said resolutely, turning back to the girl with a little wave. He grinned brightly at Kairi, nodding his head in agreement with the statement. "I've been meaning to for a while now, you know?"

**- - - - - - - - -**

Sora wasn't really walking anymore. He hadn't walked much in the first place, as he figured that finding Riku was going to be a chore. He still didn't know how to handle the other boy anyway. Kairi, he could almost predict and adapt to when speaking with and thus could wing any conversation because he felt comfortable around her. Riku, however, was still an enigma.

Therefore, Sora was sitting cross-legged in the darkening landscape under the white moon, a newly waning and nearly perfect circle standing out brightly against the star-strewn sky and sending clear light down onto the cool sands of the beach.

It would have been a comfortable atmosphere but for the fact that Sora had never been particularly fond of the night; he liked it when it was bright and warm and everything was alive again. The silence of the nighttime was a little too eerie for him.

But, he was enduring it anyway, musing about his next move because he certainly wasn't going to let the now-quite-real tugging in his heart affect his judgment anymore. Not after it had screwed up things as much as it already had.

That was one thing the brunette had always been adamant about. He hated making the same mistake twice - it made him feel stupid. Almost like he hadn't even bothered to consider the results of the first mistake before doing the same thing over again. It was so inconsiderate to be like that.

During the tournaments at the Olympus Coliseum, he had tried to learn from each match. If two Blue Nocturnes tricked him into a simple trap, then he made sure that he could recognize the signs before he got beat up again. It was the same with island battles – when he fought Wakka he watched for the typical blitzball moves that he used and avoided them. It was that simple.

Making mistakes was okay, but making mistakes a second time was taboo.

He _would not_ do that to Riku again. He would _not_ be a such a coward.

"Hello Sora."

The brunette nearly jumped half a meter at the greeting, staring up at the unexpected visitor with bulbous eyes and managing to stutter a returned hello. _Heh_, Sora thought lopsidedly, _speak of the devil_.

"What are you doing out here Riku?"

"I wanted to see the sky," the other boy replied nonchalantly, looking upwards with a detached sort of fascination as he spoke. "It's amazing how bright it can be when it's night."

It was startlingly bright actually – the orb of the moon glowing with light and blanketing the world with her silken veil. The sandy beach, each grain shimmering golden in the sunlight, was painted a clear grey color and the retreating sea was liquid gunmetal and mercury.

"I . . . I want to pluck it from the sky and bring it down here – wipe all of the shadows away," Riku murmured quietly, maybe only to himself, reaching up and grasping at the sphere vainly before giving up seconds later. "But it's just out of my reach."

"Why don't you ever wear those gloves that you had on when you got here?" the brunette asked curiously, staring at the nearly white digits of Riku's hand that were hanging loosely at the boy's side. Said boy blinked at the random question, and bought his palm up, looking at it for a moment before returning his gaze to the sky.

"I want to be able to feel the world," he said vaguely, looking almost like he wanted to reach out and gather the stars along with the moon. "Everything becomes so dulled when you wear gloves."

Sora stared at Riku for a moment, a spontaneous decision finalizing itself in his mind before he openly turned to the other boy and declared, "Fight me."

"What?" the reaction was uncontrolled and startled, straining at Riku's mask - for but a second like it was a mad beast biting at the bars. "No."

Sora just smirked at the sight, before explaining, "Not a real fight – just a spar like we used to. With wooden swords and everything. Or don't you think you can handle me anymore?"

The boy bristled, or he would have bristled had he not caught his actions, at the words. That was rule number one: Riku didn't back down from challenges. Avoided them at times, yes, but he never backed down – he lived to prove people wrong.

This could clearly be seen in an incident from about seven years ago involving Selphie, Truth or Dare, a can of glow-in-the-dark silly string, dish soap a blender, and an innocent tabby cat belonging to the next door neighbor. Enough said.

"Okay, fine."

"Come on then!" Sora cried, jumping up from the ground. With the wave of his hand as he darted across the beach in the direction of the bridge and the island with the paopu tree.

The Secret Place was ill named because it wasn't that hidden and everyone knew about it whether they left the main islands or not. It was some urban legend that everyone knew was wrong. But where Sora was headed was a true secret place – a compartment hidden beneath the sand where he and Riku had hidden treasures when they were younger.

It was a miniature cellar located in the center of the island next to the paopu tree, and as far as Sora knew, no one else was aware that it even existed. If they were lucky, the wooden swords would still be buried beneath the sand next to the old keg of rum they had managed to steal one summer and the other random treasures of their youth.

When Sora finally got to the island, Riku in tow, he dropped to his knees and began to scoop away the massive amounts of sand hiding the storage room from prying eyes. After a couple of minutes of doing this, the Keybearer realized that no one was assisting him

"Aren't you going to help me?" Sora asked the older boy pointedly, stopping in his work and turning to gazed up with big, blue, puppy dog eyes at the silent observer. Riku simply stared at him, looking completely unfazed. The brunette grumbled bitterly under his breath before turning to the buried door and getting back to work.

It was soothing in a way, because with something to keep him busy, Sora couldn't doubt himself. He could ignore the strange touch whispering for him to run away and he could forget the feeling of shame.

After about five more minutes of digging and mumbling, Sora finally managed to clear away enough sand to open the meter wide door. With a resolute gleam in his eye, the brunette wiggled at the latch and tugged, sand sifting through the cracks as the door flew open and sent Sora flying backward onto his rear.

The moonlight beamed down into the hole in the ground, lighting upon what looked to be the physical remnants of Sora and Riku's crazy childhood. A worn treasure map with red marks scribbled all over it; a blitzball so old that the blue patterns were nearly faded away; a miniature radio that they had listened to the world with; a box that had the ear of a photo peaking out of the lid and even more inside; a large terra cotta jug that held the stolen rum; and a pair of wooden swords.

Leaping down into the musty hole and what could have been a time portal, Sora suddenly felt nine-years-old again. He wanted to kick the old blitzball around and find the hidden treasure on the map; to take a sip of the rum and gag at the astringent taste; and flip through all of silly photos he had captured when he had dreamed of being a photographer. Instead, he grabbed the swords and turned to leave.

Sora then climbed out, slammed the door back down onto the hidden room, and quickly swept the sand back across the wood with his feet, stomping on it until it looked like nothing had been disturbed at all. Then he turned to the stoic Riku, and with a cheesy grin declared, "Got them!"

"Don't you intend on putting those away when we're done?" Riku asked plainly, staring blankly at the wooden swords and then back to the reburied cellar.

Sora blinked, flushed, and managed to stutter, "Ahhh . . . no."

"I see."

"Shaddup," the younger boy grumbled, pouting slightly. It wasn't like there weren't other places to put stuff away, ie: the tree house or Secret Place. The cellar was just unknown to everyone else and probably wouldn't be disturbed.

"Well, en guarde then," Sora murmured, flinging the wooden sword toward Riku and crouching down into his typical battle stance, sword at the ready. For a moment time stopped - the two boys facing each other, muscles tensing in preparation, the sharp collision of electric blue and aquamarine in midair. And then, with a flash, life resumed and both boys flew at each other.

Wood clashed with wood and the two jumped back before re-engaging in a collision of swords. In a strange, almost choreographed way, the two struck and blocked in time, neither gaining advantage nor disadvantage as they moved across the sand in constant motion.

Sora smirked as his plan immediately produced results.

The human mind can only focus on one thing at a time. When someone is hurt, the brain won't even register the pain of the injury unless the person is aware of it. But once they notice the scrape and the blood, the pain manifests itself. Yet if the mind is distracted it will 'forget' again until the thought process is re-focused.

This was something that Sora knew for a fact. He had fought enough to know such things. One time he had received a nasty gash across the leg, not even noticing in the heat of battle until Donald had nearly had a conniption fit at his carelessness before tossing him a hi-potion.

Riku was letting his guard down, paying too much attention to the hollow clacking of wooden sword upon wooden sword to keep his mask up. He was too busy sweating, lunging, straining, gasping, reacting. It was refreshing.

The brunette was so focused on this fact, this triumph he had made, that his movements were somewhat sloppy, unfocused. Thus, Riku was able to swing the sword downward past Sora's defenses, the 'blade' hitting one of the bruises Selphie had left on him days earlier.

The Keybearer stumbled from the pain, now quite certain that Riku wasn't planning on pulling any punches, and with a sweeping twirl-like movement crashed his own sword into the silver-haired boy.

Both boys leaped back across the small island, gasping drunkenly for air and grinning, before leaping back together in a flurry of clanking wood. The fight continued this way for a while – too fast for Sora's mind to completely process and too much for Riku to keep his mask up for.

Soon however, Sora felt fatigue start to hit him, and since he had already gotten what he had wanted from the fight, decided to pull a final move. Wiping the sweat from his brow in one of the split second standstills, the brunette charged forward.

Riku seemed to be expecting the attack, sword up to easily counter the standard blow, but his eyes widened drastically as Sora flew past and around him. Whirling around to parry the jumping attack from above, the green eyed boy lost his footing and fell backward into the sand with Sora on top of him.

The brunette grinned, pinning down Riku's sword arm and ready to bring his own weapon up to the throat of his opponent to declare victory, before he was unexpectedly yanked off via the older boy's free hand. The two fell into a wrestle for control, rolling across the small island roughly.

"Hah! Gotcha!" Sora declared victoriously. He had gained control of the roll and was sitting on top of Riku with his wooden sword placed neatly over the jugular, breath harsh as he gulped in air like a half-drowned animal. "I win."

"You wish," Riku replied, eyes flaming with something quite alive as he gestured downward with the tilt of his head. Sora blinked and glanced down to find the older boy's sword ready to rip a right size hole in his stomach. He couldn't help but laugh at the 'live and let live' position. "Draw."

Sora rolled his eyes, not bothering to reply as he got up off of Riku and wiped the sand off of his clothing. The other boy sat up with a grunt, mask sliding smoothly back into place and dulling his eyes. He slowly stood, flexing his fingers in the process as he shifted his sword from hand to hand.

"Well, either way, it's good to know that you're still alive," the brunette panted, resting his hands on his knees as he glanced up at the other boy, smiling the ridiculous grin that he was known across worlds for. "I was wondering if I'd ever see the real you again."

"Wha-" Riku started, only to be cut off.

"I want to say that I'm sorry about yesterday. It was cruel of me," Sora continued, not missing a beat as he switched from light-heartedness to seriousness in the blink of an eye, standing up fully in the process. "But I think that I'm getting you a bit more now."

Riku seemed taken aback by the apparent randomness of the statements that Sora was throwing in his direction. The green-eyed boy managed to sputter out, "'Getting me?'"

"Well, I think so anyway," Sora replied with a shrug before his eyes turned a darker shade of blue. "I had to think about it for a while. But there's one thing that I want to hear from _you_ though. Just so I know that I haven't gotten it wrong again."

The silence was almost inviting as the two stared at each other, looking ready for a second showdown with the wooden swords that were still in each hand. Riku was pale in the moonlight – afraid and un-alive even though his deadpan facial expression had not moved in the slightest.

"Why are you acting like this? Why don't you trust us anymore?" Sora offered to the night, wanting to leave it at that, but other questions forced themselves from his lips. "It isn't too much to ask, is it? I mean, it doesn't seem that it would be, since I don't think we did anything to betray you. So what is it? Why is it that won't you open up?"

"I'm sorry Sora," Riku replied suddenly, eyes narrowing sharply. Abruptly, he folded into himself - arms brought in tightly against his body, noticeably creasing the black leather, wooden sword dangling from bare fingertips. "But that is something I can't afford to do yet. Or haven't you seen it? Darkness follows me now."

And it was true because Sora had seen it. He had seen the strange way that the shadows would grow deeper around Riku whenever his cool façade showed its few, angry cracks and he had seen how light was simply sucked in like the other boy was a black hole.

"Yes, I've seen it," the brunette whispered, finishing his thoughts aloud. Absently bringing one hand up to push a rebellious tuft of hair behind his ear, he looked up into the eerily calm features of his friend. "I'd be ashamed of myself if I had failed to notice for a second time. You know how I prefer to learn from my mistakes."

Riku did nothing more than stare at the younger boy for several minutes after that, a strange expression flickering across his features as the meaning behind the words fully settled in. Only after he had thoroughly searched Sora for something that only he knew, did Riku whisper more to himself than anyone else, "Why do you still care so much?"

"Because you're a friend to me. One of the most important people to me," Sora murmured with a shrug, like it was the simplest thing in the world before continuing with a sharp intensity. "And I won't let you down again."

Sora seemed to be on a roll with the startling statements that were quite successfully shutting Riku up, because once again, the other boy had nothing to say. The Keybearer frowned at that thought, wondering how in the world he had managed to pull that off a second time.

The blue-eyed boy ran a hand through his hair as he stared back at the impassive Riku, who had remained speechless. They seemed to be at a standstill for the moment, and he was a little scared to disrupt that, but he couldn't help the words that left his mouth.

"You didn't answer my question," he stated bluntly, calmly, continuing before the other boy had a chance to respond. "So you won't open up - you'll keep up your mask. I guess I can deal with that. I respect you enough for that. But could you answer my question and tell me why?"

There was yet another pause in which each simply stared at the other boy as a cloud hid the moon and everything fell into faded shadow.

"Ba-back before this whole mess started, everything was okay. But then the Heartless came and then I was angry with you for some reason I don't even really remember. It sounds silly, but that anger fed on something and it just grew and grew and grew until I was so absolutely furious that it stung," a voice whispered in the dark. "And pretty soon I wasn't really thinking anymore because of it and all I wanted to do was save Kairi. Because, when I focused on that, lost myself to that, everything would just fade away and it didn't hurt anymore.

"When I think about it now, I can realize that it was probably _him_. He fed off of it and cultured it and bred it, until I lost whatever was left and he could just take me before I even realized what was going on.

"But the thing is, it was _you_ who made me so mad that time Sora. I was so angry and it scares me that for some reason you can still bring things out in me. It scares me that sometimes I can still feel that something in me stinging," the older boy said blankly, his voice somehow shivering despite its controlled emptiness. "I don't want to get that mad again. I can't allow myself to get that mad _ever_ again. I cannot let someone use me like that a second time, so I can't let that sting in me grow."

The silver haired boy turned swiftly as he continued, his eyes flashing in the newly revealed moon, "You ask me why I won't open up? Why I can't dare let myself feel anything at all? I'll tell it to you: I can't trust myself not to get angry and leave my heart wide open again. Not like the first time. Until this darkness is gone, I can't risk it."

Part of Sora realized that Kairi had been right. Again. How in the world did she do that all the time? Was it like some form of female intuition or something that just let her understand everything behind a person without even trying? Or was it some power from being a Princess of Heart that just allowed her to see into everyone's hearts? It was a concept completely lost unto him, that was for sure.

She had easily predicted the reason behind Riku's strange actions without the slightest of hesitations clouding her with doubt. She had even lost her temper with him, a rare thing indeed, to defend that opinion. Oh how he wished he could read into people that easily instead of always taking everything at face value.

"That's exactly why I'm asking you to trust me, you know? If you ever fell into darkness again, I would make sure to save you, no matter what. But I can't blame you for wearing a shell if you think it'll be safer that way, can I?" the brunette managed to get out before he completely lost himself in thought. "Either way, thank you. You clarified something for me."

There was no grunt or nod in confirmation. Instead Riku's sight was riveted once again on the stars above, squinting as if searching for a certain constellation. The older boy was eerily motionless as he looked up, strangely seeming to disregard the conversation that had been in progress.

"Sora," Riku suddenly said, stilling staring up at the stars with dark eyes. "There's something wrong with the sky."

Indeed, there was something wrong with the sky. The shadows of the night hid it well, but the stars were growing dimmer, like dying fireflies and the air itself was tingling. The moon's light was pulsing violently, tainting the silent landscape a sickly cream color. At that moment and with no warning, Sora felt it: a dreaded feeling deep in his heart that said something was coming.

The two boys saw it immediately - a bright, orange light exploding silently in the sky overhead like a burning flower, ripping the atmosphere to shreds and lighting up the islands. The blinding sight was followed seconds later with a vortex of sound and an aftershock of wind that rammed into the little island violently, cracking the paopu tree in two and splitting the ground as both boys fell from the impact.

It could have been reminiscent of a bomb.

It took several seconds for Sora to reorganize his scrambled thoughts, and he started, leaping up and looking around for Riku, who was holding his bleeding skull with a grimace. They shared a muted conversation consisting of an 'are you okay' and a 'I'm fine' with their eyes before the ground tore itself apart, causing Sora to stagger forward into the sand and Riku to trip over debris and fall off the island itself.

"Riku!" the Keybearer screamed, leaping forward in a spray of sand to the edge of the islet. He searched the darkening waters vainly, unable to catch sight of the paler boy within the churning torrent of salt water. He did, however, manage to revive a jumble of words from the depths of his mind as a scream echoed from the mainland.

'_Take care of her._'

Cursing beneath his breath and saying her name, Sora whirled around to catch a glimpse of a disheveled and panicked Kairi stumbling backwards out of the Secret Place, the red-head tumbling to the ground in her momentum. At the same time, in his peripheral vision, a black and white blob burst from the surface of the purpling sea with a sodden gasp for air.

Torn for only a second, Sora turned back to the ocean and flung a palm down to the gagging Riku with a cry, "Come on Riku – we've got to go help Kairi!"

The silver-haired boy reacted immediately, reaching up to the offered hand and clasping on tightly as he was hauled out of the violent water. Falling on top of Sora, and getting the other boy soaking wet in the process, Riku offered a quick apology before the two spurted up and across the creaking bridge to the main island and Kairi.

"Kairi!" Sora cried, falling to his knees in front of her and grasping onto her bare shoulders. "Are you okay?"

"There's something in there," the girl gasped, waving a shaking hand to the Secret Place. Her eyes were wide and startled, a trail of blood dripping down her cheek as she continued. "There's something in the Secret Place that I have never seen before!"

"_Nemo_. The Third Enemy," Riku stated bluntly, looking completely unruffled as he stared out at the frothing, purple sky blankly. His voice was strangely calm, almost as if some part of him had been expecting the sudden collapse of what could be nothing other than the heart of the Destiny Islands. "They've come."

"Come on! We can't stay here any longer - we've got to go!" Sora heard himself scream above the roaring shrieks of the wind that were growing with each second as he jumped up and grabbed at Riku and Kairi, dragging the both of them along with him towards the pitiful wreck that was the Seaside Shack.

He dived for the glowing, green haven of the Rest Point, just as the Destiny Islands tore themselves apart once again, sand shredding across the sky like miniature diamonds.

That night, the first star blinked out.

**To be continued . . .**

Whoo . . . wasn't that fun despite all of the exposition and the horrible cliffhanger? Yes, yes it was. Either way - more has been explained in this chapter and everyone is getting along again, so be happy. "Nemo" is another Latin word for something . . . if you really want to know, you can go look it up. Or you can wait and be pleasantly surprised when I decide to tell you what it means. No promises of when the next chapter will be up - but six out of the seven pages are written and the next parts after that _should_ come along fairly easily. But I make no promises. So, please review and make my day.

As always, go read my other KH fic, Yellow Coats, because it is my baby.

To my lovely reviewers . . . holy freaking crap there's _eight_ of you! I have two pages worth of reviews!  
**Yin Yue:** lol It's okay. Thanks so much for adding me to your favorites though - it makes me unbelievably happy when people do that! And yeah, Riku's been confusing everybody because of chapter five, so it's all good. Ready to work hard!  
**Princess Of Mirrors:** Thank you - it's so nice to get honest reviews no matter the length. I actually have problems writing Sora, but I'm trying to do better. Ahh, the Kairi/Riku scene . . . believe it or not, there was a reason behind the madness.  
**bwilbur:** It shall go to strange and bizarre places . . . if my computer doesn't die again and I actually manage to finish this fic. Heh. But yes, Riku's musing to Kairi is an interesting scene that would have but now probably won't rear its ugly head later.  
**Kryal:** Three times? Ooo, you've got mystical powers, eh? lol I'm gonna have to go look up Hildegaard von Bingen now, you know. Mwah. Thank you very much for adding me to your favorites list - it always shocks me when people do that.  
**Rurouni Saiyan:** Yay for happy normal last chapter Riku since he's gone again! Since my computer works again, I'm going to work on reading your story - the billion chapters that I've missed out on are a bit menacing though. But I will pull through!  
**Ari Powwel:** Signed review! is happy and dances with Ari I will forever deny the RikuxKairi-ness no matter what you say. shifty eyes Understanding the computer issues, mine hates me an un-dying passion. What did I ever do to _you_ computer!  
**Smault:** Don't worry, I don't demand anything of my reviewers - I'm just insanely happy that you guys are all here no matter what you say! hugs Well, threatening to hurt or maim me might not be all that appreciated . . . but yeah. Either way, thanks!  
**CodeLyoko:** I return! Mwahahahaha! Sorry it took so long, but there isn't much to do about it now. Thanks so much for the review - you would not believe how happy they tend to make me. Ahh . . . reviews are the lifeblood of a writer who posts stuff on the net . . .


	7. Strange Whispers

Well, here's a gift to all of you who are still here with me. Enter the last chapter of Open Up before the American release of Kingdom Hearts II. Not only that, but this is the longest part to date - a whopping eight and one-third pages - and I only got in about half of what was supposed to happen in this part. Once again, the release of the game will change nothing regarding the plot, which is so entirely AU now that it makes me laugh. Either way, I'll shut up now. Enjoy.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts or anything that has to do with Kingdom Hearts. If I did, well, this would be a game and not a fanfic. So please don't sue me; it probably wouldn't be worth the hassle.

**Story Key:**  
italics means emphasis  
". . ." means speaking  
- - - means scene switch  
'. . .' means quotes

Anyway, onto the fic . . .

**Open Up  
Part VII: Strange Whispers**

Sora clamped his hands over his ears, yelling soundlessly, the music of Destiny Islands still screeching in his brain, though the sound itself was long gone. It felt like his eardrums were going to burst from the discordant screaming. He hadn't been able to hear the melody of the islands the last time they had been destroyed, but this time, being there and aware and hearing it was too much to take.

He hadn't noticed his programmed movements, typing the coordinates for the gummi ship to take them far away before he had collapsed moaning onto the console. Nor had he heard Kairi's cry of concern or seen the shaded glances that Riku had sent him before the warp drive kicked in and shot them through space. Sora was far too focused on the fact that his world had just been torn apart and the sound of it was reverberating off of the insides of his skull.

When they had stopped again, floating in orbit around Disney Castle, Sora felt less raw than he had moments ago, though he wouldn't be surprised if the echo of the islands floated through the air any second. The star that was their home hadn't faded from the sky yet, the light and sound still traveling through space.

"-bleeding!"

The brunette blinked, suddenly able to register that Kairi was attempting to grab his head and dab at it with a piece of cloth that looking like it could have come from her skirt. But Riku was holding her back, glancing over at him with poorly veiled concern. He wasn't sure what the older boy saw in him as they made eye contact, but he loosened his hold on Kairi, the girl springing forward immediately.

"Are you okay?" she asked tentatively, voice softer than it usually was. "Your ears are bleeding."

Sora blinked a second time, reaching up and trailing his fingers across his dampened cheeks. Glancing down at his smeared fingers and then console; he was only vaguely surprised to find splatters of red. However, he didn't have long to process this, because at that moment the shockwave hit.

It wasn't nearly as intense as the original sound had been minutes earlier, but it still ripped a cry from Sora's throat and he cupped his ears almost instinctively. While actual shockwave probably only lasted for a couple of seconds, it seemed like longer.

It was a shrill scream; fingernails down the surface of a chalkboard and a metal file pulled through someone's clamped teeth.

"-ing to heal him!"

The part of Sora that was still cognizant recognized the voice as belonging to Kairi again, but didn't really care that much. But then there was a cool, refreshing feeling spread over his body, and even though he could still feel the shriek ringing in the back of his skull, the pain noticeably lessened.

The brunette realized that he had started crying from the overwhelming sensation, the tears hot and wet, mixing with the blood running down the sides of his head. He gasped at the ground one last time before standing up shakily with the support of what must have been Kairi.

"Thanks," he croaked, wiping away the wetness from his eyes and looking over at the solitary figure to their left. Riku was standing as still as the gaudy statues positioned behind him, dark and ominous and blankly watching Sora with slit eyes.

The Keybearer blinked, ignoring Kairi as she admonished him for making a mess out of himself before licking a clean portion of the rag she had procured earlier and wiping at his face.

Statues? When had they gotten on the planet? Last he knew, the three of them had still been in the Tomodachi.

"You hit one of the consoles when the shockwave hit," Riku stated blankly, reading Sora's thoughts off of his face. "It probably did more harm than good though. You heard it at home, and then in space, and then here a split second later."

"Can you still hear it?" Kairi asked tentatively, pulling her rag back to her chest and eyeing the brunette shyly. Her concern was evident, creasing her forehead and straining at her features.

"Not so much," Sora replied with a shaky smile. His eyes skirted to the rag, which apparently had been part of Kairi's skirt, based on the colors that he could see through the blotted red. "That potion made it a lot better to deal with though. Thanks Kairi."

"It's no problem," she beamed, eyes happy and grin wide. There was blood, dry and tacky on side of her white face, and somehow that contradicted everything.

Suddenly there was a loud bark behind the trio, and they all turned to find a lanky, yellow dog poking its head through one of the stone archways. It stared at them for a moment, tilting its head to the side, before yapping loudly and bolting off the way it came.

"Pluto!" Sora cried at the departing animal, taking a step in the direction of the arch. "He must have gone to get King Mickey."

"Is this Disney Castle?" Kairi asked, blinking after Pluto and turning to flash an inquisitive look towards Sora. Wihtout waiting for an answer she turned to stare up at one of the giant statues. It was of a lanky cow woman in a frilly gown.

"Yep," the Keybearer replied lightly, putting a hand behind his head as he chuckled sheepishly.

Kairi looked a little lost as to how to reply, staring up at the cow woman and then over at a statue of two scowling chipmunks in armor. "It's . . . elaborate," she finally stuttered.

"It fits," Riku snorted, taking the moment to wring his wet hair out. Folding his arms haughtily and glancing around, his gaze rested on a voluptuous flower, which immediately changed from yellow to blue with the glance. The older boy was strangely bright in the garden atmosphere, no shadows hovering around his dark form.

"Sora! Riku!" cried a voice in greeting. Almost immediately after, the mouse king Mickey ran through the archway and towards the trio. Once reaching them he grinned widely and proclaimed, "It's good ta see the two of ya again! And you gotta be Kairi, huh? I've been waitin' fer ya guys to show up."

"Mickey," Riku greeted coolly, taking a few steps towards the king and nodding slightly. The mouse eyed him for a moment, taking in the lack of blindfold and the blood congealing across his forehead. He then glanced towards the other two, seeing the red on Kairi's face and the rag that was still in her hand, the fatigue settling in on Sora.

"What happened to ya all?"

"They came to our world," Riku stated plainly, blank green eyes narrowing sharply, gaze calculating. "I didn't see any of them, but they were there. I could feel it."

"_Nemo_? The non-existent ones?" When Riku nodded an affirmative, it was almost like Mickey wilted before them, sighing raggedly and placing a hand on his head. He sighed again and mumbled something suspiciously similar to "I see."

Sora was about to insert a comment of his own, when Mickey visibly realigned himself and looked up with a painfully false grin.

"You three are probably perty tired, right? It's gonna to be night on this world soon, so ya might as well all go to bed now," he said with invitation in his squeaky voice. "I'd have Donald and Goofy show ya to your rooms, but they're off lookin' fer some stuff fer me. So just follow Pluto here, he'll show ya where ya can stay. Clear yer minds and get some rest - we've got some work cut out fer us tomorrow."

With that the mouse king skirted off, leaving the three islanders and Pluto in the gardens. The yellow dog ran to a different archway and barked impatiently when no one made a move to follow him, glaring at the trio vehemently.

"Well," Sora started weakly, just realizing how tired he was. "I guess we better get going then."

Kairi nodded mutely and Riku just stared expressionlessly. With Sora in the lead, the three weaved their way around the garden in silence, passing under large hoops of roses and daffodils. When they met Pluto at the door leading out of garden, they were treated to a pristine maze of uniformed halls and corners. Each was adorned with velvety carpeting, white brick, and enormous, multicolored tapestries depicting the King's crest. Five or ten minutes later Pluto finally stopped at a grouping of doors, nodding to them before galloping off.

Sora bid his friends adieu, and took the first room, collapsing on the large bed bonelessly. He sunk a good six inches into the rich coverlet and sighed, looking up at an oil painting on the wall, but not really seeing anything.

"'Clear my mind?'" he stated, quoting Mickey wryly. "How am I supposed to do that? I wish he'd give some straight forward advice."

He toed his shoes off, letting them drop to the floor with an echoing thud and rolled over onto his side, damp clothing cold. Thoughts of Riku and Kairi and the Nobody ran through his mind, echoing over and over with the death cry of the Destiny Islands. Sora shuddered and curled into himself.

"_Mutatio_," he murmured lightly, tracing the syllables with his tongue, and unknowingly into the blanket with his fingers. "_Mutatio_, _lumens_, _taceo_, _cor_ . . . _nemo_."

The brunette sighed darkly and ran a hand across the side of his face and through his hair, fingertips glancing off of something hard. He frowned and scrapped at the texture, pulling his hand back to find blood crusted underneath his fingernails. Kairi must have missed a spot.

Sora had a bad feeling about this.

**- - - - - - - - -**

Sora had slept like the dead, motionless on the spongy bed, and did not wake until a loud knock rattled his door.

It was the cow woman that had been featured in the garden statue from the day before, and he had to double take as he greeted her. She was dressed up as a maid and was waving a grey feather duster at him, chiffon and lace fluttering around her. She introduced herself as Clarabelle with a sloppy curtsy and informed him that breakfast had been made.

She flounced off towards an intersection in the hall and disappeared from sight, while belting out something about gossip and "how dare that Horace think he could just-"

Sora blinked, shrugged, and went back into his room, noticing a door adjacent to the painting that he had not seen the night prior. Entering the room, the brunette found it was an enormous bathroom. The framework was dark wood, laced in gold and all of the porcelain was blinding white against the dark of the towels and rugs.

On a plush chair next to the sink was a set of clean clothing. It was a complicated looking outfit made of a dark fabric ornated with yellow straps and dashes of red and white. Next to it lay a light jacket and pair of gloves that followed the same color scheme. There was also a long, leather coat that looked exactly like Riku's.

The Keybearer sighed, eyed the clothing, and in a tired stupor went along with his morning routine. He figured that breakfast could wait since he hadn't cleaned or changed clothing for two days. When he was finished showering and had put on his new attire, which fit perfectly, he grabbed his crown necklace and looped it around his neck while heading out.

He left the long black coat behind with the rest of his clothing.

Wandering down the halls Sora felt a little more alive than he had earlier, tugging at his stiff collar and wondering how he was supposed to find the dining room when everything in the castle looked the same.

A sound broke the silence of the halls, laughter dancing through the empty corridors and across the tapestries towards Sora. He stopped, blinked, and took off in a run towards the origin of the sound.

Sprinting down the hall was almost invigorating, and Sora nearly passed up the giant dining hall, having to retrace his last few steps.

The dining room was nearly identical to the throne room, sans the throne itself. Large tapestries depicting various scenes, one featuring Goofy and a variety of other dog people looking strangely valiant in a war torn field, covered the entirety of the walls. In the center was a long, white table, the place setting located at the far end. A set of white swinging doors on the far side of the room led off to a kitchen. Sora watched in amazement as a pair of little white and black birds carried a platter of biscuits out to the table.

Kairi nodded in thanks towards the birds, who scuttled back towards the kitchen. The red head paused however, fork hovering in the air as she noticed Sora. Riku, who sat across from her, blinked and looked up, watching impassively as the Keybearer jogged towards them, sitting where a third plate was situated.

"Morning," Kairi greeted. She grinned, setting her fork down and tilting her head to the side. She looked far better than she had the day before, color returned to her skin. "Huh. Looks like you got new clothes too."

Sora blinked, looked down at his new attire and then back up at Kairi. Instead of the ragged tank top and skirt she had been wearing, she was decked out in a complex outfit of lavender, violet, and black, lined in thin stripes of white. Curious, Sora turned to Riku, who looked white and clean, but had his coat zipped up.

"Looks like it," the brunette with a shrug, grabbing a fork and serving himself some of the purple stuff that looked somewhat like scrambled eggs. Grabbing a biscuit, he ate like a beast, only pausing the when the birds returned with a dish piled with thin, pancake like objects.

"What are those?" Sora asked, eyeing them warily as they scurried away, white doors flapping after them.

"They're . . . penguins?" Kairi sounded, the strange words sliding across her tongue foreignly. She glanced toward Riku, who nodded in confirmation. "Goofy's son Max told us earlier."

Sora nodded in confirmation before choking. Kairi stared at him with wide eyes before calling his name and pounding him on the back. When he regained his ability to both breath and speak, Sora questioned, "Goofy has a son!"

"Yes, apparently so."

Reminding himself that he had heard and seen stranger things, Sora recomposed himself and continued to eat. Kairi started a conversation with Riku that was more one-sided than anything else. The penguins kept serving new dishes and taking away old ones, despite Kairi's reassurances that there was plenty food on the table already.

When the meal was finished, the three islanders stared at each other, not entirely sure what they were to be doing with themselves. The silence was a little unbearable and as Sora blinked at Riku, a memory resurfaced in his mind and he blurted, "How's your head?" ashamed that he had forgotten about the injury.

Riku stared, absently reached up towards his flawless hairline before replying, "Oh, it's fine now. Kairi got a hold of me before I went to my room last night."

"That's good," Sora smiled, glad that someone had taken care of the older boy, even if it wasn't himself. He frowned at that thought, wondering if he was taking care of anything.

Wasn't the Keybearer the one who was supposed to be fixing everything anyway? He was supposed to be the hero, right? But he hadn't actually found Riku himself despite all of his searching . . . and Kairi had ended up getting hurt again. In fact, he had managed to hurt everyone with his little fit . . . and now the islands were gone . . .

"I should have sealed it. Then-"

"We never thought that you would need to," Kairi interrupted softly, intercepting the comment. She looked over at Sora sharply as he opened his mouth to retort. "Don't blame yourself, because you know it's true. We both figured that because you were there, the Heartless, or the Nobody . . . or whatever, wouldn't come."

"Which apparently isn't the case," Riku pointed out fairly bluntly, immune to the veiled glare that Kairi sent his way. He opened his mouth to continue, but paused and snapped it shut. Jutting a gloved finger up into the air, he shared what had come to him, "Is it possible that the enemy is attracted, summoned, by the Keyblade itself?"

Sora gaped and felt that maybe the earth had dropped out beneath him. If the Keyblade drew the Heartless . . . then, well, that explained a lot. He had always wondered why every time he had gone somewhere, if the Heartless hadn't already been there, they showed up very soon after his arrival.

"The Heartless knew that the Keyblade could destroy them, but they were so focused on the primal need for a heart, that they couldn't help being attracted to the bearer," Riku continued emotionlessly, eyes flitting over to Sora in confirmation as he spoke. "Maybe it's similar to how the Nobody think. The Keyblade can probably destroy them, but they know that they can use it to find Kingdom Hearts."

"But why wouldn't the Keyblade have something to prevent that?" Kairi questioned, leaning on her elbows, facing off against Riku. "What you're saying Riku, it completely cyclical. The Keyblade can't cause the problem and solve it at the same time - that doesn't make sense."

"But it's true, Kairi. It called nothing short of an army to Traverse Town. Leon made that fact pretty clear to me," Sora stated, nodding to Riku in a muted agreement. "But I was thinking that that was a one time deal - a reaction to the fact that I had no idea what I was doing."

Kairi made a move to argue back, opening her mouth, but Riku beat her to the chase, his voice cold. "The Keyblades can be used for good or evil; it depends on the bearer," he deadpanned, face carefully blank. What little shadows there were in the room flickered for a split second. "But to have that kind of versatility, they would have to be more in-between than we we'd think them to be. To do good, they must have the side effect of some evil, and vice-versa."

"That makes sense I supp-"

"Hiya everybody!" a voice sang out, startling the three as it revealed itself to be the king. He waved from the doorway before trotting towards them. "It's good to see ya all so lively! I take it ya guys all got a good night of sleep?"

"Yes, your majesty," Riku said dully, watching warily as Mickey made his way down to the table. He sat himself next to Riku and across from Sora, nodding toward the three islanders merrily before turning to the oldest.

"How many times do I have to tell ya Riku?" he admonished, patting the boy on the shoulder and ignoring the flinch the touch invoked. Setting a folder on the table he turned and flipped through the papers, continuing brightly. "We're pals, ya know that ya can call me Mickey!"

Riku didn't respond to the prompting for an apology, sighing tonelessly instead.

"Well, anyway, we better get down ta business," Mickey continued after several minutes, as if there had not been a lapse in the conversation. Flipping through some more pages, he ho-hummed to himself, before closing the folder and pushing it out towards the middle of the group, the manila stark against the white of the tablecloth. "That right there is all that we know about the Nobody. It may look like a lot, but most of it's a catalogue of the worlds that've blinked out in the last day."

"How many?" Kairi asked, shock covering her features as she stared at the thick folder, looking as if she wanted to snatch it for herself.

"It's gotten into the early thirties," Mickey stated grimly, tapping his fingers across the table surface, leaning into the group before speaking softly. Sora felt like he was in a conspiracy. "They're smart, smarter than the Heartless, and there are a lot more of them than we previously thought."

"What can we do?" Sora nearly demanded, voice taut with anger at the thought of all those worlds dying. He had been ignoring the flinches in the back of his mind, which meant most of the destroyed worlds were very far away, but what if they had been trying to tell him something?

He couldn't ignore this anymore; he needed to take care of the problem before it got out of hand.

"What we need ta do is fix this now," the king stated bluntly. He turned to Sora, eyeing the boy coolly as he linked his gloved fingers together. "Last time ya were by yerself Sora; there was no one else who knew what was goin' on to help ya. But this time we can't go skippin' around worlds tryin' to find the one that has what we need. It'll take too long."

"But last time I had to clear ways through space to even get anywhere," Sora blurted. "We can't just skip over that; you can't go into warp drive to a place you've never been to before."

"That's right, Sora. Without knowin' where yer goin', the warp drive could stick ya inside of a planet or somethin'. But that's only one of our problems," Mickey confirmed, eyes passing over the islanders as he spoke. "The other one is that we don't know exactly where Kingdom Hearts is located."

"We'd need a portal of some sort to get there, wouldn't we?" Kairi asked suddenly, brow furrowed in concentration, a hand raised to her chin in a classic thinking pose. "But nothing that we could install on a Gummi Ship would be able to get us there because of what Sora said. We'd have to go about it a different way . . ."

"Do you have an idea?" the brunette in question asked, perking up at the possible solution. Riku merely shifted in his seat, a careful expression on his face.

"Well . . . the Princesses of Heart made the path to the Keyhole in Hollow Bastion. Wasn't that a portal? I'm pretty sure it was," she mused, biting her lip and blinking over towards Mickey before continuing. "King Mickey, couldn't we get there that way?"

"Well, that portal was pretty small and I got no idea how long this one'd have ta be, but that sounds like it'd work," the mouse replied with an honest grin, looking all the more brighter than he had a minute ago. It was a startling change, almost the opposite of how the shadows would grow deeper whenever Riku stood in them. "Thanks Kairi!"

"Oh," the red head blushed, laughing lightly under her breath and fidgeting under Mickey's warm gaze. "It's no problem."

"Riku," Sora called softly, meeting the other boys' eyes from across the table as Mickey rained some more praise down on poor Kairi. "Don't you know how to get there? How long the portal should be or whatever?"

"In way. But I can't tell you.

The sheer level of irritation that Sora subdued at that statement was phenomenal. Instead of snapping, he slowly ground out, "Why not?"

"I know where they're gathering, but I don't know where the doors are exactly," he tried articulating, repeating himself with a glower at the tablecloth. A glance upwards revealed a confused audience, and Riku sighed. "That doesn't make any sense, does it? It's like a compass: I can show you which way is North, but that's it. I'm a compass, not a map. I don't know where anything is in the North. I can feel the doors, guess at when you've gone too far North, but I don't really know where they are."

"Then how are we going to find Kingdom Hearts?" Kairi asked, for both herself and Sora.

"Sora can find it."

Sora stared at Mickey, the mouse king's statement completely new news to him. "Not really," he blurted, a little furious at the declaration and how easy it made everything sound. "I've been looking for them for the last three years!"

Riku looked oddly touched by that statement before his walls slid back into place, disguising the momentary slip-up. "I know where the doors are because I can hear everything around them. But you can find that place where they are because you can hear the stars."

"So, Riku has the map, but Sora's the one who can read it?"

"Somethin' like that, yeah," Mickey told Kairi, eyes sparkling at the two boys with some hidden knowledge. "All Riku's gotta do is help Sora use his map and we'll be one step closer ta knowin' where the doors ta Kingdom Hearts are."

"Well," Sora started, suddenly excited by the prospect of finally being able to do something. He was naturally a person of action - sitting around all day seemed like the least productive thing that he could be doing. But if he could find Kingdom Hearts . . . "Let's do it now then!"

"Sora-" Mickey started, his concerned tone nearly smothering.

"We don't have the time to waste," the brunette cut it, glancing towards Riku before returning his gaze to the mouse king. "You said it yourself, Mickey. We've gotta take care of this now, not later."

"Fine, fine," Mickey said, waving a hand and looking almost like he expected this suddenness. Like he was pleased with the no wait approach Sora was determined to take. "Let's get outside though, it'll be easier for ya."

The king leaped from his chair with a strange, almost animalistic, amount of grace, followed by the three islanders. Once again they were greeted with the complex maze of identical halls in the Disney Castle, though Mickey seemed to know exactly where he was going.

Sora was too excited to say much of anything to Kairi or Riku, but he did send the two of them large grins from time to time, looking a little more than ridiculous each time he did so.

After three years he was going to find Kingdom Hearts. He was going to find Kingdom Heats. The words and their sheer finality were enthralling. He was finally going to do it!

Even though Riku and King Mickey were no longer trapped behind the doors there, the sudden chance for Sora to finally realize his goal sent a trill of excitement through his nerves. It would be the first accomplishment, and the morale boost from that was enough to send him reeling ahead of time.

By the time they reached the gardens, Sora was nearly bouncing. Kairi was starting to realize his excitement could be infectious and Riku was eyeing both of them with a little derision.

Mickey on the other hand was just as chipper in his own squeaky mouse person sort of way. "Okay, Sora, Riku. Time to find the missing world," he started, clapping his hands together and rubbing them furiously. "Good luck!"

Riku scoffed lightly at the words, stepping forward in front of Sora and cocking a pale eyebrow at the face-splitting grin.

"First of all," the older boy started wryly, folding his arms and staring pointedly. "You need to calm down or this is never going to work."

"Fine," Sora whined, taking a deep breath. Features smooth and excitement blocked from his mind, Sora pacified himself in a shockingly short period of time. That was what came out of years of fighting. "Okay Riku, I'm ready."

Riku stared at him for another moment before uncrossing his arms and peering up at the sky. He stared at the daylight, feeling for something known only to him before nodding to himself and focusing his green eyes back onto Sora.

"Listen, Sora," he whispered, instructions soft. The brunette closed his eyes, titling his head up to the sky and straining for any type of noise. His breathing was harsh and jagged in the silence. "Block everything out but my voice and listen. Can you feel them? The doors. I've been told that they're hidden on an empty, overlooked world. It's unsealed place, so it should be singing to you. It wants you - more than any of the others - it should be calling for you. It's far away though, faint and overshadowed, but bitter because it's been forgotten, ignored. Listen for it. Can you hear it?"

And Sora listened, reaching out to an upset world hidden between space and stars. He blocked out all other noise, focusing only on what Riku had said, coming across a thousand different melodies.

Bright and burning and slow and sad and complex symphonies without flat notes and nothing off key. The lazy hum of cicada in the heavy heat of summer; wind whipping and whistling through tunnels and across golden prairies; low laughter like bubbles popping in the ocean foam and sinking into the sea. All pieces of music and all terribly alive.

But it wasn't . . .

"No," Sora frowned. "I can't hear it - it's not there."

"Then listen _harder_!" Riku snapped. "It's there and it has been calling for you this entire time. Don't just write if off because it's weak and you have to work for it. _Listen_. It's saying, 'Don't forget me, Keybearer.' 'I'm here too.' 'I need you more than all of those other worlds combined.' Listen for it. Tell me Sora, can you hear it? Can you hear it?"

So Sora listened as deep as he could, for a faint note hurtling through space and passed stars. And Riku's desperation was gone; Kairi's shuffling in the grass gone; Mickey's silent smile and the trumpeting soliloquies of Disney Castle gone; the seductive singing of all of the other worlds gone.

All other sound faded, his breath heavy and echoing as he latched onto it, a strange, unsettling, irregular noise. Weak and shivering, growing louder but not stronger as it noticed his attention. Screeching off note and discordant, it stung at him, crying out for help.

It felt just like the Destiny Islands had - reminded him strangely of what he felt when he had sealed Kingdom Hearts. However, instead of a split second of destruction, this world had been dying for months . . . years. It's pain a constant ache.

"I can . . . I can feel it now," Sora murmured, tilting his head to the side as he focused more on the world itself, feeling out for its location, and frowning. "I know where it is, but I'm not sure I can explain it. It's hidden. It's in-between . . . even if we had the time, we would never be able to take a Gummi Ship . . ."

"Do ya know where it is well enough to show someone else?"

Mickey's voice was a sharp echo that snapped Sora so much out of the zone that he nearly lost his grasp on the planet. He physically stumbled, opening his eyes, sight swimming at the blinding green of the grass. The lost world cried at the weakened connection.

"Yeah," the brunette said weakly, the last notes of the planet fading from his grip as his other senses started to return. The grass was still bright, but not nearly as blinding as it had been moments before, and for a second, the startlingly pale Riku looked almost pleased with him.

"Good. I'm gonna go call the Princesses of Heart and ask 'em to help make the portal," Mickey said abruptly, whirling about and walking rapidly away before calling over his shoulder. "You three can just stay here fer now."

The first step had been made.

**To be continued . . .**

I apologize now because absolutely nothing happens in this chapter . . . though I did love writing it for some reason. Sadly for you guys though, the next part should be similar - full of exposition and stuff that prepares you for the next chapter. That's right, Part IX is gonna be cool. I like Part IX. We just have to get there. But while we're waiting for me to get into gear, please make my day and review! Comments, questions, critique - it's all good.

As always, go read my other KH fic, Yellow Coats, because I love it and it will never stop being my baby.

To my lovely reviewer . . .  
**Shive-iceflame:** It's good to see that I still get readers who aren't afraid to review! You're my only reviewer for Part VI in fact, so be aware that I heart you dearly for that. Anyway, thanks for the comments - I appreciate them!


	8. A Very Small Wish

I just baked a cake with rainbow chip frosting! Ahem. Yay - next chapter from Mizu for all of you! XD I actually had problems with this chapter for a while, but then my "writing inspiration explosion!" happened and it was suddenly done. KHII may have helped significantly by getting me into KH obsession land . . . but yeah. Some interesting parallels with KHII will show up - not many, but some. Right, I'm going to stop talking before I start babbling about KHII and bore you all with it . . . Part VIII of Open Up was not beta-ed, so any and all mistakes are mine and mine alone. But please, enjoy!  
**ETA (06/22/06 3:33PM):** Ahh! I found my mistake and I've editted it out. It was just a small piece of dialogue that told you guys things that you weren't supposed to know at this point . . . if you already read it then, oh well. You probably didn't even notice. Trust me, it's that minor.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts or anything that has to do with Kingdom Hearts. If I did, well, this would be a game and not a fanfic. So please don't sue me; it probably wouldn't be worth the hassle.

**Story Key:**  
italics means emphasis  
". . ." means speaking  
- - - means scene switch  
'. . .' means quotes

Anyway, onto the fic . . .

**Open Up  
Part VIII: A Very Small Wish**

"I wish Mickey hadn't just left us here," Kairi whined, swinging her legs back and forth and glaring down at a flower bed. She was perched on the base of one of the statues in the garden – a statue of a skinny, disgruntled looking mouse to be exact. "We've been here for ages. He probably forgot about us."

"He didn't forget," Riku stated, shifting his weight subtly and glancing down at Sora, who was sprawled across the ground like someone dead.

"Then why are we still here?" the redhead retorted, baiting him. Riku had always been an impatient person, and it was a little amazing to see him suppressing the irritation that was probably eating him up from the inside.

Sora sighed, sat up, and stared at the two of them with heavy eyes, placidly ordering, "Cut it out you two."

"Sorry," Kairi apologized after a beat, sounding truly sincere as she stopped swinging her legs. "It's just that I want to be doing something – something more than just sitting here and scuffing this statue. I just want to _go_. What about you Riku?"

"_Corda serata fero me invio, sed auro quaeque janua panditur_."

Kairi wilted at the answer, her features growing terribly soft and concerned at the foreign words, her eyes blue pools of empathy so deep that Sora himself felt the misery behind her expression.

"What?" Riku asked, eyes darting back and forth between the two. "What?"

"You can still hear them all, can't you?" Kairi asked softly. "Maybe not all the time, but the hearts are still calling for you, aren't they?"

"Of course," the older boy all but hissed, the light around him warping just the slightest, blackness creeping in and around the flowers like poison. "But where did that even come from?"

Sora and Kairi's eyes met for a moment before Sora tried to explain, "We didn't understand a word you just said, Riku. It was all in that language you learned in Kingdom Hearts."

Riku cursed under his breath, fists tightening with an audible snap of his new leather gloves. "It wasn't important anyway," he bit out, folding his arms and sinking a bit into the darkness that was lingering at the edges of his figure.

Kairi opened her mouth to say something, but changed her mind at the last second, snapping it shut with a click. Instead she looked over to Sora, eyes big and blue, asking for him to risk himself and break the awkward silence.

"So," he started, letting the word drag out and receiving a glower from Kairi for his efforts, while Riku was completely oblivious to the exchange.

"Hiya! Sora, Riku, Kairi," a voice cried in greeting. Sora blinked and looked over, catching sight of Mickey as he waltzed through one of the rosy archways. The mouse king waved, nodding a head towards each islander as he said their name. Sora nearly gave the mouse a hug for his sudden appearance. "Sorry to keep you guys waiting for so long. It's nearly one o'clock - you're probably all hungry."

On cue, Sora's stomach rumbled loudly and he flushed, rubbing at it and sending Mickey a cheesy grin, "Yeah, a bit."

Lunch was just as every bit as extravagant as breakfast. The penguins dashed in and out of the swinging kitchen doors with trays of small sandwiches, deviled eggs, chicken strips, and nameless other finger foods.

Sora tried to assure them that the three islanders would be happy with just a tray of the sandwiches and maybe the one with the crispy, flaky things that changed colors, but they dutifully ignored him before presenting a tray of sushi.

Mickey had left them to their own devices again, dashing away with a hurried apology, an abbreviated update, and permission to wander the halls once they had finished eating.

"Just make yourselves at home," he had called before scampering out the door second later, his thin tail trailing through the air behind him.

So once they had finished trying everything that the penguin waiters had forced on them, the trio set a-walking down the halls of Disney Castle, astounded again and again by the odd decor.

In particular interest had been a chandelier made of copper pipes and multicolored lights that blinked sporadically. It wasn't until Kairi had stared at it for a minute that she realized that there were little metallic woodland creatures propped inside of the tubes, blinking down mechanically at all who passed by.

Soon enough, the trio found themselves in an outer corridor of the castle. Instead of the menacing whitewashed stone on either side of them, one wall was replaced with an ornate, white railing and the occasional Grecian pillar. For as far as they could see, there were fields of wildflowers, little buds basking merrily in the sunlight. A worn stone road wound through the fields, disappearing over the top of a hill and into the horizon.

"Mickey said that the rest of the Princesses should be here any time soon," Sora said suddenly as the trio walked down the hall. "We'll probably get to leave sometime tonight."

Kairi frowned at the reluctance in his words, before asking, "It's not a nice place is it? The world you listened for earlier."

"Not really, no," the brunette replied with a shaky laugh, gesturing up towards to the sky. "It's dangerous; infested with all these Nobodies that are so full of wants that it's almost sickening. They'll sense us the instant we get there, and then they'll come at us with full force because we have hearts and bodies for the taking."

"_Conglobatio_," Riku added with a distant expression, eyes darting across the sky for something far off.

"What?"

"They're gathering there," he clarified, turning back to Sora and Kairi. "That's what he means Kairi; they're gathering an army to break down the doors, to fight us so they can get there first. They aren't alive enough to realize we want to help them."

"Hey, wait a minute. What are you two going to fight with?" Sora questioned suddenly, jutting a finger up into the air as if the thought had just come to him. "I mean, we are going to have to fight. I've got my Keyblade, but what about the two of you?"

"When I was in Traverse Town I got Yuffie and Aerith to teach me some magic. That way I wouldn't have to drag someone along to protect me every time I wanted to leave the Small House," Kairi informed the brunette with grinning eyes that suggested that she hadn't spent very much of her time inside at all. Dropping all modesty in her words, she continued with a smirk. "I've gotten pretty good at taking care of myself."

Sora grinned back before turning to Riku, "What about you, Riku?"

The other boy's features were passive for a moment before he shrugged and said, "I'm not sure actually - Souleater is gone."

"You could always use yer own Keyblade, Riku," a chipper voice suggested, revealing its owner to be King Mickey, as the mouse walked out of a hidden hallway and up to the trio, looking at the oldest of the three as he spoke. "Ya still have it after all."

"But, I was told that the Dar . . . that Riku's Keyblade was destroyed when Sora used it to free everyone's hearts?" Kairi asked the king in confusion. "Are you saying that it wasn't?"

"Oh no, it wasn't destroyed Kairi, just put away fer safe keepin'," Mickey told her, before rounding about to the aforementioned boy and jabbing a finger at his chest with a whirl of the hand. "After Sora borrowed it, the Keyblade came back to Riku and was sheathed in his heart. When Riku's heart left, the Keyblade went with it. That's why everyone thought it was destroyed. So no, Kairi, his Keyblade may have disappeared fer a while, but it's far from gone."

"But will you use it?" Sora questioned delicately as he turned to the other boy, positive that he already knew the answer.

"No," Riku replied bluntly, features shadowed for but a moment. "I won't. There has to be something else."

The king smiled a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, but directed the group's vision down the seemingly endless hall with a point of his gloved hand, "That's fine with me Riku. Why don't ya go down to the armory and find something that'll suit you? It's just around the next corner - ya can't miss it."

"I think I'll do that," the silver haired boy replied with a small smirk. "Thanks your Majesty."

"No problem pal," the mouse said as the boy whirled around dramatically and stalked down the grand hall.

"I'll go with you Riku!" Kairi cried, bounding after the figure in black, sweeping up to him with a girlish sway. "Who knows, maybe we'll find something for me too!"

When the two were out of sight, rounding the corner, Sora turned to Mickey with an urgency that showed he had been waiting for the others to get out of hearing. Brows crinkled and a frown upon his lips, he stated more than asked, "Riku hasn't used his Keyblade since, has he?"

"Nope. He refused to as long as there was somethin' else to fight with. One time he even took on a band of Heartless with a stick," Mickey replied, shaking his head with a dry chuckle at the memory. "But he'll have to come to terms with his Keyblade soon. No matter what he thinks, it's still a part of him and in the end he won't be able to deny it. He won't have that option."

Sora glanced over at the king with slanted, electric eyes at the unspoken premonition looming behind the words. Despite the fact that the boy was sure of Mickey's integrity, he couldn't help the suspicion that clouded his face as he spoke his next words: "Do you know something?"

"I don't know anythin' Sora; not like that at least," the mouse replied with a faint smile and melancholic air as he padded over to the gaudy railings, grasping the top and staring out into the bright, flower-specked fields of his world. He reached up, draping a hand across his chest, his sight blurring as he continued. "There's just this feelin' in my heart that's tellin' me that this isn't gonna be as easy as we want it ta be. That it's not gonna be as easy as we think it should be."

"Life is never easy. It's not supposed to be, I guess."

"Be careful, Sora. Be careful that yer heart doesn't betray ya," the king stated suddenly, turning to face Sora with a somber look. His brows were knitted worry and he frowned before continuing. "Fer some reason I'm thinkin' that this world'll be different from all of the rest - more conductive."

"Conductive?"

"Haven't ya ever noticed what the Keyblades bring out?"

"Darkness," Sora replied, tilting his head to the side and recalling the earlier conversation in the dining room. "Or light, I suppose. It depends."

"That's right, Sora," Mickey said with a smile. "And that's an important fact. Don't let that darkness touch ya, because if ya do, you'll falter and you'll fail. Don't ever doubt yerself. Don't let yer heart loose hope. There'll be a way out. You just gotta believe."

**- - - - - - - - -**

"Do you think Sora is okay?" Kairi asked suddenly, as soon as she and Riku and rounded the corner and were out of Sora's and Mickey's hearing range. "He seems sad for some reason."

"Part of him is still blaming himself for all of this," Riku replied monotonously, not at all appearing concerned with the completely out of the blue question. He understood Kairi's ability to track the minute nuances in people's hearts. "He's gotten something of a hero complex – he thinks he should have noticed it earlier, or taken better care of it."

"That's ridiculous," she commented, words not nearly as harsh as they could have been. "Even King Mickey admitted he was wrong – that even he hadn't expected this."

"Yeah."

"It's not your fault either!" the redhead snapped. Riku quickly opened his mouth to refute, but was cut off before he could make a sound. "And don't give me that look or any of your words, because I know you're thinking it. If any of this is anyone's fault, it's that wretched Ansem's!"

The green-eyed boy flashed Kairi the ghost of a smile, the action empty and meaningless because of his mask, but she read the meaning behind it anyway.

Riku halted suddenly, staring upwards, an eyebrow cocked. When she turned to see what he had bothered stopping for, Kairi's eyes were met with the sight of an enormous wooden door, unlabeled and a little out of place in the whitewashed palace.

"This must be it," Riku remarked, walking towards the door with a renewed vigor. The door was even larger when they stopped directly in front of it and looked nearly impossible to open, had there not been a smaller set of doors encased within the base.

The doorknobs were round and brazen, ancient looking with an intricate keyhole carved beneath each of the knobs. There were small flowers circling the keyhole, and the closer Kairi looked, the more and more complex the engravings appeared.

"What if it's locked? How will we get in?" she asked bluntly, turned towards Riku with a little panic. "Wouldn't King Mickey have mentioned this?"

The older boy reached out, gloved fingers brushing lightly over one of the unpolished knobs, a faint shimmer of magic dancing around them and into the keyhole. The solid sound of a bolt unlocking itself resounded through the silence and the door creaked open a few centimeters.

"How did you-?"

"It was probably a type of protection magic," Riku explained, gesturing towards the keyholes. "Anyone who needs a weapon will be able to open the door – but if a madman comes, or if a person doesn't have permission, the door will deny them access."

Kairi was suitably impressed. For all of the showy designs and glamour, it seemed that as more and more time passed, larger chunks of the castle's helpless façade faded away. She could only imagine the other protective magics that were woven into the foundations.

The two islanders entered the armory slowly, the door creaking loudly and candles bursting into flame upon their arrival. The candles tapered into the distance, the light fading away to a back wall that Kairi couldn't see. Everywhere she looked, there were gigantic racks of weaponry – enough for an army or two – that seemed to dwarf the room itself with sheer scope and size.

There were swords of various shapes and sizes and colors; blades thick and thin and curved and poison tipped; bo staffs and scepters; weapons of magic and weapons of power and weapons solely for defense; items that she didn't even know the names of, but had deadly angles and blades that made her shudder.

"Look for something that speaks to you," Riku whispered, stepping forward. "Weapons like these are picky – you have to find one that wants to fight with you. Otherwise it will be useless."

Kairi shrugged before walking to the first of a set of racks that seemed to be composed entirely of various different looking spears, halberds, and kwan daos. Some of the weapons were plain wood with a simplistic metal head, while others were carved from what looked to be ivory and had vicious looking barbs.

Running her fingers down each weapon, Kairi was surprised at how cold they felt, until she reached one near the bottom. Pulling it out – onyx kwan dao with a blade like a mirror – she staggered beneath the weight, nearly crashing into the rack before catching herself.

Panting, she gave the weapon a soft stroke of regret before fumbling it back onto the rack. Turning around to the next rack, Kairi was met with a weapon with spiked bits that protruding outward blatantly and reminded her strangely of the Keyblade.

"You know Riku," she said suddenly, recalling their discussion in the hallways. The only response that she got that he was listening to her was a noncommittal grunt. "I think that, either way, Sora won't really be okay until Kingdom Hearts is unlocked. He won't forgive himself until then – he's too stubborn."

Kairi heard a sound of agreement for Riku, before walking around the rack she had been inspecting and nearly bumping into him.

"Any luck?"

"Not really," he said dully, poking at a kama and wincing at the feel of it.

"So," Kairi, started, dragging the word out as she hefted a set of sais, twirling the knives lightly and almost dropping one before putting them back in a hurry. "What about you, Riku?"

He blinked and stared at her. "What about me?"

"Well, I know that you're not all right, so I won't even ask," she started, the smile on her lips small and a little sad as she stroked a dark, wooden lance laced with small, silver leaves. Glancing over at Riku, she continued, "But will you be all right?"

Riku stared expressionlessly at the sword in his hands before carefully putting it back on the shelf. Not only did he dislike the sharp angles of the katana, but the steel was useless to him – far too cold and heavy; completely lifeless.

"I lost myself earlier – you were there to see it," he said blankly, tone echoing in the large room. He didn't face her, speaking more to the wall than anything else. "I'm sorry, but I didn't know what I was doing until it was already done. It was cruel to you."

Kairi blinked, letting her arm fall back to her side limply and giving the boy her full attention. "Lost yourself? What are you talking about?"

"I already told Sora, but you deserve an explanation too," he said slowly, shoulders rigid in his dark coat. His whole body was tense, as if waiting for some sort of attack. "There's a reason I've been acting the way I have. You see, I-"

"I know," she nodded, quickly cutting in as she finally realized that he was talking about what had happened on the beach. Brushing her hair away from her face, she stumbled into an explanation before she could be accused of anything, "Or, well . . . I don't really _know_ know. But you don't need to tell me, Riku. I already understand as much as I need to."

It was obviously not what he was expecting to hear from her. Maybe a confession that she had spoken to Sora (which she hadn't), or a blatant refusal to listen, not complete and unadulterated trust. As he whirled around to face her, his eyes were wide, blank, and a little empty, but at the same time, clearly shocked.

At his confused look, Kairi continued, "I trust you enough to let you deal with it on your own. Don't get me wrong, I was really worried before – you were cold. But don't worry, it wasn't cruel of you to be kind for a just a moment. In fact, no matter what you think, you 'loosing yourself' was probably for the better. You showed me that you really _are_ Riku, not just a shell. Besides, I'm not like Sora," she said with a small laugh, as if that explained everything. She turned back towards the weapon rack, just so that Riku was still in her peripheral vision. "I don't need to know every little thing that's going on. And, either way, you're still you, and that's all that really matters. So just do what you have to do."

Riku opened his mouth, paused, and closed it again. Staring at her he finally managed to choke out "Kai-"

"I think this is right for me," she interrupted with a smile, stooping down and grabbing at a weapon from the bottom of the rack. She whirled around dramatically, holding up a weapon for Riku to see. It was a shining white scepter, the butt end slanting into a smooth point and the other a stylized flower bud. "It feels more alive than anything else in this room."

**- - - - - - - - -**

"Aww, come on," Sora whined, drawing out his syllables as long as possible. Doe-eyed and pouty, his countenance bordered precariously on the edge of pathetic. He swung his arms behind his back, bending forward for maximum effect before continuing. "You guys gotta come with us!"

"We already told ya Sora, we can't," Goofy said, swaying listlessly to the side and not looking much happier than Sora was feeling.

"But why not?"

"We don't have Keyblades!" Donald snapped, already annoyed by the conversation. He was glaring up at Sora, arms crossed and white feathers a little perturbed. Any second now and he would probably stalk off down one of the endless halls with a loud, quackish huff, faux irritation covering the disappointment he really felt.

"Neither does Kairi!" Sora argued back, letting out a mental cheer at the obvious loophole that Donald had left for him.

"But she's a, er . . . a-" Goofy stuttered, at a loss for whatever phrase he was looking for, directing a questioning glance towards Donald, who glowered sourly.

"A Princess of Heart!" Donald finished for him. The dog man in turn laughed obliviously and scratched the back of his head before thanking his friend.

"Besides," Goofy said, turning back to Sora. "His Majesty's goin' with ya."

"But I want you guys," Sora sighed. "We're the Trinity, remember?"

"We'll still be a Trinity, Sora," Goofy said with a laugh, eyes crinkling at the edges. He clapped a hand on Sora's back, giving the boy a bright smile before explaining. "We'll always be a Trinity. Even if Donald 'n I can't go with ya, we'll be in yer heart – just remember that and we'll always be there to help ya, even when we're not around."

"That's right!" Donald concurred, nodding his head sagely and waving a finger around as if to emphasize the point. "You think we'd just leave you? Bah! You can't get rid of us that easily!"

Sora grinned, throwing his arms around the two of his friends, one squawking loudly and the other laughing heartily. "Well, that's good to hear!"

The trio inevitably fell over, the combination of Sora's weight and Goofy's lack of balance sending them tumbling to the ground in a whirlwind of laughter and Donald's irritated squawks. It was at least five minutes later when the ruckus finally settled down.

"I really wish you guys could come though," Sora said with a sigh, rolling out of the pile and staring up at the ceiling of the castle. Tin squares with various designs arched up into a slope, just as gaudy as everything else. "Just because you don't have a Keyblade or aren't a Princess of Heart seems weird to me. What difference has any of that made before?"

"None," Goofy conceded, throwing his arms back. "But I'm sure that the King knows what he's talkin' about. Even if we really could go, he's probably got a good reason for not wantin' us to."

"That's right!" Donald cried, jumping to his feet and thrusting a feathered fist into the sky. "We've just gotta trust in the King. Now get up you two – there are things that need to be done before the other Princesses of Heart get here!"

"Fine, fine," Sora whined with a grin, pushing himself up off of the velveteen carpeting and trying to forget his disappointment.

**- - - - - - - - -**

The North Ballroom at seven p.m. was the designated time and place that Mickey had given him shortly after had had spoken with Donald and Goofy, and Sora was there ten minutes early.

It didn't seem to matter though, as Sora was greeted with the sight of activity. Daisy Duck was running in and out of the room with a clipboard and muttering to herself, sliding precariously across the flooring in her high heels. A grouping of women, who appeared to be some of the Princesses of Heart, were chattering to each other softly.

However, Mickey Mouse was nowhere to be seen. That is, until he was right in Sora's face, presenting him with the black leather coat that the Keybearer had shunned earlier that morning. Sora still lacked any desire to wear the thing.

"This coat has special protective magics woven into it, Sora," the king had explained sternly. "I know you don't want to, but you need to."

The Keybearer opted to simply put it on, making no move to fasten any of the clasps or zip it up. It was strangely light and warm, the leather smooth and buttery under his fingertips, sparks of magic gliding along the seams. A pair of gloves, soft to the touch, was hidden deep in the pockets, and as soon as Sora's fingers ghosted over them, he pulled his hands away like they had been burnt.

While Sora had become aquatinted with his new coat, Mickey had rushed away in a flutter of motion. He was darting around the ballroom like a small bird, greeting each of the Princesses of Heart with a shake of the hand and then sending various of his courtiers off on errands of what had to be utmost importance, considering the speed at which Donald fled from the room.

Sora nodded to the group of the princesses, who were clustered at the opposite end of the ballroom, the evening sunlight flaring in through a set of windows behind them and decorating the hall in a rainbow of color as it refracted through the crystalline chandelier.

The Northern Ballroom – apparently one of the only truly gorgeous rooms in the castle – was a creation of crystal and colored glass. Precious metals and gems sparkled from the ornate flooring tastefully and cast a bright aura throughout the room. The sheer beauty of the room spoke of ancestry and magic too old and deep for Sora to even try and understand.

It was apparent that Mickey had already talked to Kairi when she arrived through one of the several doors lining the circular room's walls, her own coat billowing strangely around her small form. Sora had only seen Kairi wear that much black once – when Riku's mother had died – and shuddered at the paranoid omen running behind his eyelids at the sight.

When she caught sight of him, halfway across the room, she smiled brightly and waved with her free hand. In the other was a long white scepter that Sora could feel pulsing with potential at her touch. Both of her hands were gloved in black.

Kairi walked forward briskly, crossing the ballroom in a couple of minutes, and greeted him with a smile. "Are you ready?" she asked lightly, rhetorically, not really wanting to hear the lie that Sora would answer with, because he was most certainty _not_ ready.

Riku entered the ballroom next – a white wraith with a heart of gold. Kairi gestured him over wildly, calling his name. When they were all together, it was downright eerie, how they all looked the same dressed in the identical leather coats.

"Look, before we go, I want you each to have one of these," Kairi whispered suddenly, glancing around warily before holding a clenched fist out to the boys. When she opened it, a pair of thalassa shells shone brightly up at the boys. "I had some thalassa shells in my pocket when we had to leave – I was trying to make a necklace again. But I left the rest of the shells on the islands, and well, I can't make my necklace now. So, I just thought that maybe these will bring us luck this time, just like they did for the sailors."

Sora blinked at the sentiment before glancing back to the objects in question. Each cream colored shell was strung onto a braided, leather cord with a few brown beads that Kairi must have acquired at some point during their stay at the castle.

"Those kinda look like Keychains," he stated bluntly.

Kairi stared at him, and then stared at the two necklace rejects, wondering that maybe, her subconscious had had other motives when it had come up with the idea a couple of hours ago.

"Well," the redhead drawled slowly before looking up at the two boys with a wide grin and thrusting the Keychains towards them. "Make sure to use them then!"

Sora grinned back just as brightly and Riku merely stared, but both of them grabbed at their gifts. The brunette's Keychain vanished into thin air – disappearing to the place where he kept his Keyblade and all of his other Keychains – while Riku simply stuck his in his coat pocket.

"But you both need to promise me something," Kairi said suddenly, sternly. Sora turned and waited expectantly, Riku simply cocked an eyebrow. "I still need to make my necklace, and I can't even start unless you return those shells to me."

"What do you think I'm going to do with a sea shell, Kairi?" Riku asked matter-of-factly. "Sora and I are guys – we don't have any use for them unless you're there to make a necklace with them. Isn't that right?"

"Yeah," Kairi answered with a small smile, eyeing the older boy with unrestrained warmth. "That's right."

Without the trio noticing it, King Mickey and the group of princesses had shuffled across the ballroom and behind the trio, a feminine voice clearing her throat as to catch their attention.

The three islands turned to face the group with wide eyes at their sudden proximity. Each of the princesses was dressed in her best chiffon and silk – an odd contrast to the somberly of the situation – gorgeous dresses that reminded Kairi a little of origami cranes, all shining and delicate and easy to crush.

"We want to wish you the best of luck," Belle said with a smile, speaking for the rest of the group and gesturing towards the other women who stood around her. There was a murmur of agreement and many of the princesses nodded and smiled warmly at them.

"Thank you," Sora grinned in response. "We really appreciate it!"

"Well, we best not let time go a-wastin,'" Mickey said suddenly, clapping a hand onto Riku's back, causing the boy to jump quite spectacularly before giving the king a look that could slice steel. "Let's get into position."

Mickey all but pushed Riku away from the mass of girls, Sora trotting behind the two of them laughing his full head off, his nervous tension a little too manic for Kairi's tastes.

"Kairi, we'll just need you for a moment," Jasmine said quickly, grabbing the redhead's attention before she wandered away to join her friends. "We're going to need your help establishing the portal, but after that we'll be able to hold it until you get through."

"Okay, yeah."

"Just stand over there, in that circle on the floor by Donald and Goofy," the princesses said, pointing towards the dog and duck and a round, star-strewn creation of marble and glass that was in the floor tiling itself. "When Sora starts telling us where to make the portal and when you start to feel the power building in the room, just help us concentrate on making the connection. Put your will behind it. After that just cut yourself off as cleanly as possible and then get through."

Kairi nodded sternly, receiving a light smile in response as Jasmine sauntered over to her own position on top of a circle that held the image of a morning sandstorm – wild and furious and deadly as the sun rose like a disk of blood.

Each of the princesses was placed equidistant from each other and from the center of the room, positioned on corresponding marble artworks that decorated the floor beneath their feet. Some of the globes were of the elements – one with a beast of fire and the other a water nymph – while others depicted nature – as in Kairi's orb of the night sky.

"All right Sora, do your thing," Mickey said encouragingly, squeaky voice echoing across the room. Sora blinked and stared at the king, eyes flitting back towards Goofy and Donald, who waved cheerfully, before turning to look at the circle of women.

"Do you still know where it is?" Riku whispered, sensing the hesitation.

"Yeah," Sora replied, clearing his throat. "Okay, we're looking for a lost world, so it won't be too easy, everyone. Luckily, I know where it is, so all you have to do is listen to my voice and I'll guide you there.

"You're connected to this world because you're Princesses of Heart, so if you search enough you should hear it calling for you and me and Riku and anyone else that can possibly hear it. It's dying, screaming, located just out of sight-"

Sora's voice faded into nothingness and Kairi searched through time and space with the rest of the princesses. She didn't know how long it took – minutes, maybe hours until one of them latched onto the location, a thin thread in the chaos, waiting for the rest of them to stabilize the connection.

For a moment, as she reached out with the others for the forgotten world and saw it in her mind's eye, Kairi became its center of attention and could hear just what had been plaguing Sora and Riku.

Thousands of voices echoing in her mind all at once, canceling each other out and amplifying each other in a flurry of buzzing and trapping her in their writhing, black and yellow bumblebee mass of terror and rage and want.

In a split second, she heard hundreds, maybe thousands of voices screaming Riku's name, calling for him because they knew he was the only one who could hear. Their cries only rang louder as a drifting song, sad and melodic, floated around and through them, the tune sharp and stiff as it creaked against her skull, deteriorating with each rebound and moaning for Sora again and again.

While Kairi was trapped in her own personal hell, Sora watched with a detached fascination as loud sucking noises seared across the ballroom when a pool of black formed in the middle of the group – a floating ball that looked strangely like the night sky. It spun madly, casting strange shadows onto the walls before imploding into a pinpoint of darkness.

As small as the pin's head, the infantile portal wavered nervously in mid-air before gaping outwards like a giant mouth and swallowing the air with a cracking noise until it was a large disk.

Outward tendrils of black and violet weaved together into myriad of muddy colors; neon and disgusting all mashed together in a hodgepodge mess of white lightning. It was flickering on and off, unstable, fading into grey scale and fuzzy noise before snapping back to full, blinding technicolor.

"You need to go," Cinderella gasped suddenly, drawing Sora's eyes towards the ring of princesses. They had all paled significantly, sweat beading down their brows and eyes closed in pained concentration. "We can't hold this for very long."

"Okay," he said softly, far too quietly for any of the women to hear him. Turning towards Donald and Goofy, their skin painted strange colors as the portal flickered and overtook any brightness from the sun, Sora grinned encouragingly. "Kairi. Riku. King Mickey. It's time to go!"

Without a backwards glance, the brunette walked straight into the hurricane of a portal, disappearing from sight into a world that had been forgotten.

Kairi, who had snapped out of her trance, took a step forward, pausing only to look back over her shoulder with wide eyes and yell a hurried thank you to her fellow princesses, before pushing her windswept hair back behind her ear and walking steadily into the gateway.

"Let's go, your Majesty," Riku said lightly, before stepping forward to join his friends on the other side. The closer he got to the event horizon, the stronger the noise grew – a horrible gnashing sound, a ragged rip in space. He was so focused on getting there, that he almost missed his named being called.

"Riku! Riku, before you go," Mickey called, stopping the boy in mid-step. The mouse king caught up to Riku smoothly, eyeing the flickering portal before continuing.

"Can't you tell me on the other side?" the boy asked pointedly, green eyes tracing back towards the vortex before snapping back to Mickey. "The portal isn't going to last much longer - we need to leave."

"Take this and use it," the King said, ignoring the question and holding out his hand. Riku blinked and stared, a flicker of emotion spreading across his features as Mickey's inverted Keyblade materialized. "I won't be comin' with the three of ya. I'm stayin' behind with Donald and Goofy."

"What?" the silver haired boy cried, mask slipping away completely for the moment, his face stark with shock and betrayal. "N-no!"

"Then keep it safe for me, will ya?" the mouse king pleaded, voice soft with an unidentifiable emotion and he held the Keyblade out for Riku to take. "It's important."

"No!" Riku yelled adamantly, sounding rather aghast at the mere suggestion. He made a grab at the king, who nimbly dodged the attack, his Keyblade vanishing into thin air. "You're coming with us!"

"That's something I can't do," Mickey replied with a sad smile. "There's too many reasons to tell ya now, but know this Riku: you three are important, you're your own Trinity. It'll work best this way."

"But-"

"Now," the king whispered, reaching out and placing a gloved hand on the boy's chest. With a rough push he cried, "Go!"

**To be continued . . .**

Dun, dun, dun. Oh no, whatever will happen next? Mickey's kind of a lying jerk, but hey, like Donald and Goofy said, he's got his reasons. Maybe. XD But anyway, this is Open Up's longest chapter to date - ten pages and two sentences into the eleventh - which is cool. Also, kudos to anyone who can guess what the "very small wish" is; it isn't very blatant.

Now for the random explanations. Riku's babble in the other language (hah hah, Latin) translates roughly to complete nonsense, or "I carry a heart locked up against my will, but a golden key opens any door." Heh. A kwan dao is a Chinese weapon that can either be a large bladed sword or, in this case, a pole with a large blade at the end. A kama is basically a mini, hand-held sickle. Sais are three-bladed daggers that I believe are either Asian or Egyptian in origin. A katana is a Japanese sword. If you want to see the Keyblade that Kairi's keychains make, you can check it out here (copy, paste, and take out the spaces): http/ www. deviantart. com/ deviation/ 35037386/. Also, lookie! I managed to incorporate the salad days scene despite the fact that I didn't use it for its original purpose! Yay for me! Rightio - please make my day and review! Comments, questions, critique - it's all good.

As always, go read my other KH fic, Yellow Coats, because I love it and it will never stop being my baby.

To my lovely reviewers . . . there are lots of you this time! And you're all honest and nice and ahh! You guys equal love!  
**endling:** Yeah . . . I'm so slow. This is not a story that wants to write itself for sure. ; Either way, thank you for remembering me and returning! It's not callous to want another update soon - I understand perfectly!  
**Kanashimi.SAdNeSs:** Thank you! Yeah, not much happened last chapter . . . or this chapter, but everyone is finally bonding and getting along with each other!  
**bast4:** I believe I already replied to you because you asked me some questions, but you get a blurb anyway! XD I'm still shocked and amazed that you want to use my idea and like this story enough to check for updates often. Hee hee. Yeah, Riku's not so good at maintaining his stoic-ness as he thinks he is. And poor Sora? You'll just have to see how he handles the other world next chapter.  
**EclipsedLight:** Thank you! I'm going my best - hope this chapter is as good as the others!  
**Irish Potatoes:** I don't know, I'm happy with my now **28** reviews. Then again, I'm easily pleased . . . but your crying for me is appreciated and I heart you for choosing to be a dedicated reviewer:D I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint!  
**Crystal Cat-chan:** It's good to hear that you like how I write Sora and the Disney characters. Riku and Kairi I can handle, but the others give me so many problems - I can't seem to get their voices down pat. -- But yes, thank you very much!  
**Emmy19:** Yeah, it's difficult to find good KH stories in the pit that is this website, isn't it? But anyway, yeah, game Riku is so much more lighthearted than my Riku . . . then again my Riku isn't letting himself be lighthearted . . . but whatever. I'm happy to hear you like everyone else's characterizations though - for some reason I have so many problems when writing Sora.  
**Reiko x 3:** Well, I'm glad that you came back to review despite your laziness:D I'm glad to hear you all like Open Up and Yellow Coats - I've always wondered if anyone has ever listened to my shameless plugging after each chapter. ; But yes, anyway, thank you very much!  
**Lapse - Raevn:** Eee! I don't mean to confuse anyone - so if you have any questions, please, feel free to ask away! Either way, thanks and glad to hear you like my fic, I've been putting way too much effort into it. :D


	9. Dive Into The Heart

Le gasp! The Mizu updates! Don't die in shock children, this is chapter is fun. In fact, this is the chapter I've been waiting for. It's the beginning of a lot of things that I enjoy very much. Hopefully you guys'll enjoy it too, yes? If the rest of this story ever gets posted . . . I'm going to try and be better about that . . . but I'm not going to make any promises. It just seems that when I take a break from writing this, six months pass and I'm never sure where all that time went. Anyway, please enjoy the goodness, and remember, I am beta-less, so all mistakes are mine and mine alone. :D 

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts or anything that has to do with Kingdom Hearts. If I did, well, this would be a game and not a fanfic. So please don't sue me; it probably wouldn't be worth the hassle.

**Story Key:**  
italics means emphasis  
". . ." means speaking  
- - - means scene switch  
'. . .' means quotes/thoughts

Anyway, onto the fic . . .

**Open Up  
Part IX: Dive Into The Heart**

Riku stumbled backwards through the portal with a roar, ignoring his surroundings and stepping back towards the vortex as if he intended jumping through it again. He was screaming something about the king when the gateway spiraled away into nothingness, sucking up his cries in a swirl of oxygen and leaving silence in its wake.

"Riku," Kairi asked tentatively, reaching out a gloved hand and pausing momentarily before resting it on his biceps. "What is it?"

"Nothing," he all but snarled, sliding out of her grasp, shadows visibly darkening around him.

"Where's King Mickey?" she asked, eyes growing sharp with concern as she glanced back towards where the portal had been moments before. "Was he in the portal when-?"

"No. He's not coming," Riku cut in with a growl, almost hunching in on himself, the shadows around him feeding on his fury. His features were dangerous, pale and hollow in the twilight. "He said we'd have more luck with a 'Trinity.'"

His eyes were more alive in that moment than Kairi had seen in the past five days – a deep flash of betrayal that was gone in an instant, searing itself into her memory so instantly that she was startled into taking a step backwards.

"A 'Trinity?'" she managed to choke out, trying to shrug away Riku's hostility and ignore the shadows shifting around him. "You, me, and Sora?"

"Do you really need me to answer that?" the older boy hissed.

The redhead narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to respond, only to shut it again with a audible click, shocked at herself and the words she had been about to say. They had been vicious, biting, her chest burning at the mere thought of them – the tugging in her heart, the one that had had her snapping at Riku and Sora on the islands, stronger than it had before.

Resting a hand lightly on her breast, Kairi whipped her head around, searching for Sora. He had felt it before – maybe it smoldered now, just as heavily, in him too.

But Sora was in no state to quell Kairi's fears. He was crouched on the ground, both hands clutching at the side of his head, face hidden in the dim light. Forgetting her distress, Kairi cried his name as she dropped to her knees and grabbed hold of him, startled to find his features warped with pain.

"Sora! What's wrong?"

The Keybearer ignored her question, grinding his teeth and crouching down further into himself as he did so. His breathing was ragged and choked, as if the air had suddenly turned to water.

"Focus on ignoring it," Riku said, suddenly on the ground and opposite of Kairi, his mask back in place with a firm vengeance. "You need to tune it out, at least part of the way. The magics in the coat should help you."

Riku's words were dim in the back of Sora's mind, all but buried beneath a melodic scream that kept resounding louder and louder. The brunette thought that maybe his very bones were vibrating, teeth clacking together uncontrollably as his fingertips went slick with blood. The stinging in the back of his head had morphed into something completely different, smothering, like a blanket that had been thrown over his head. How could he ignore that?

Sora thought that maybe someone was trying to cure him, a fleeting sensation that passed over him almost unnoticed. There were voices resonating around him, familiar voices crying his name and begging him to wake up from whatever nightmare he was trapped in. They were steadily growing louder, drowning out the warped screaming in a sudden, white hot flash.

"-ri can't do this for long!" His green eyes were sharp and serious. Like a sword. Alive. "Sora! You need to ignore it! Focus – once you get focused enough, the coat's magics will hel-"

And then the voice was gone, swallowed up as whatever had been projecting it died. But Sora thought that maybe he could trust its advice, it sounded kinder than the discordant music, and he could understand it without having to try. So he focused on the screaming, gave it his full attention, and tried to shove it into the back of his mind, to not let it overwhelm him so.

He wasn't sure how long it took, how much he pushed at a sound that didn't want to budge, but at a certain point, the shriek dampened suddenly to a low humming, as if the world suddenly realized that someone had noticed its call. The change was a like a cut, almost too sudden, tearing at itself dully and sending Sora staggering forward onto his hands, a headache already blooming behind his temples.

But he could see again, could think, and that was good enough for him.

Kairi was off to the side, hastily pulling out the cork of an ether, downing it in a single gulp. She grinned tiredly at Sora as color returned to her features. Her scepter was hanging loosely from her other hand, the tip of it pointing downward and glowing faintly. Residual power from very strong magic.

Riku caught Sora's glance, interjecting, "She used a shielding spell and directed it like a spear. You couldn't hear us otherwise."

Sora flushed. Had he really been that far gone?

Pouting at the older boy's stoic composure, the brunette felt a little pathetic after his episode. Why wasn't Riku just as affected? "Why can't you hear them?" Sora asked, smearing blood across the sides of his face as he tried to wipe it away.

Riku's smile was thin and brittle. "I can, but barely. They've gone silent. They know I'm here now."

That was kind of creepy and somewhat unfair, and Sora would have said so if Kairi hadn't interrupted, staring up at the sky with bright eyes.

"Look. There aren't any stars." Her voice wavered. "We can't see _any_ other worlds from this place."

And Kairi was right. The horizon looked like someone had smeared watercolors across it – wet and shimmering with the finality of a sunset, pink blurred across the horizon with deep purples and blacks still streaking upwards. Dark clouds hovered across the city, hiding the twilight away, yet there was no sign of any stars in the scattered patches of sky. The darkened streets were lit by nothing but streetlamps and blinking neon signs.

"This is the forgotten world," Riku pointed out. "It's supposed to be all alone."

"That's horrible." Kairi frowned, shivering and pulling her coat tighter around herself.

Sora almost agreed as he pushed himself up wearily, feeling a deep unease in his very bones as he glanced about. Something seemed to be missing – people, light, movement, life. Something was wrong with this place.

"Hey, where's King Mickey?" he asked suddenly, eyes searching for the mouse.

"Come on," Riku said, ignoring the brunette's question as he stepped forward, peering out into the city. In a way, he looked darker. "Let's go."

Sora frowned, turning to Kairi, who winced at the pointed gaze.

"He didn't come," she whispered as she walked past him, timidly following Riku down the dark of the alleyway. The scepter in her fingers vanished in a blaze of white, the shadows in the city growing darker without its presence.

"What?"

There was no response and Sora trotted off after the pair, questions circling in his head. He had trusted Mickey to follow them – but maybe there was something more important? He didn't know the mouse that well, but Donald and Goofy had always vouched for him, had spoken of his courage and virtues with respect. There must have been a good reason for him to lie. Wasn't there?

Sora almost wanted to ask Riku what he thought, but the other boy's reaction to the first question quelled the urge. It meant that no one but Mickey had known, that he had lied to all of them.

The brunette frowned, stepping into a pool of water and sputtering as he hopped away from it. In fact, the ground was littered with puddles – something Sora had failed to notice. There was a thin sheet of rainwater coating everything, glittering as if it was fresh. It was eerie.

And it was if Sora's thoughts were a trigger, a light curtain of rain descended down on the trio as they walked through the abandoned city. Veil-like, the thin, white mist settled across the landscape in glittering patches.

"It's raining," Riku hissed sharply, though he did not pull up the hood of his coat to block the haze. "I already don't like this place."

The empty city didn't do much to negate that opinion, all ethereal in the rain, neon lights softened by the misty wetness and buildings ominous in the darkness. It felt like there were eyes painted on the sides of the buildings, and a flash of yellow flickered from a secluded alley. The streets themselves were throbbing with a barely contained tension, the silence all but deafening.

Standing tall above the skyline was a building that dwarfed the other skyscrapers, the pale lights of its windows glowing dully and the neon laced vid-screens mounted to its sides blinking static. Structurally it wasn't terribly different from any of the other buildings, but Kairi was unable to draw her eyes from it, and when the two boys looked over, they felt the same attraction.

"What is that building?" Kairi asked warily.

"The Tower?"

She frowned at the dazed quality to Sora's voice, "'The Tower?'"

"It's a place of power," Riku answered, eyes narrowed at the sheer sight of it. He tilted his head to the side, as if listening for something. "There are more voices there. It must be where the Keyhole is. We might even be able to find Kingdom Hearts there."

"You think so?"

Riku's eyes narrowed. "Maybe."

His tone was almost like a warning – 'don't ask me questions that I don't know the answers to' – and Kairi watched as Riku turned away and Sora's face darkened. The brunette opened his mouth to respond before pausing and turning to Kairi with wide eyes.

'He feels it too,' she realized in an instant, hand drifting back towards the burn in her heart. '_He feels it too._'

"You-" she started, voice quiet.

"'Be careful that your heart doesn't betray you,'" Sora cut in, glancing towards Riku and looking almost like he had finally figured something out.

"What?" Kairi asked.

"That's what King Mickey said to me before we left," Sora replied, turning back to her. Something sparked in his eyes as he continued. "He said this place brought out the powers of Keyblades. So I guess they're stronger here. But remember what we were talking about – my Keyblade attracts Heartless wherever I go. That power will be stronger here too."

"And?" Kairi couldn't really see where Sora was going with this.

"My Keyblade is for worlds, and because I'm using it for good, it brings darkness to those worlds," Sora said simply. "Riku's Keyblade is for hearts – do you think that it could bring darkness to hearts?"

"That's what this is?" Kairi all but hissed in shock. The fingers on the breast of her coat slipped into a fist, shaking just the slightest. She felt cold. In her whole life she had never been so angry and so sad at the same time. "It's all the Keyblade?"

Sora's eyes were wide and very blue. "Doesn't it make sense?"

"Look, are you two coming, or not?" Riku's voice cut in before Kairi could answer, abrasive and bold. Sora jumped and both he and Kairi looked towards the other boy, almost like deer in the headlights.

Riku blinked at them, a trace of confusion passing across his features before it was snuffed out. "Are you two okay?" he asked, that trace evident somewhere behind his tone. "What's wrong?"

Sora opened his mouth, but Kairi cut in. "Nothing," she assured, smiling and walking towards him. Riku didn't need to know. It would just hurt him more. "Nothing at all. Let's get going. Come on Sora."

She stepped out in front of him, ignoring the stare that she could feel burning through the back of her coat. Tucking a wet chunk of hair behind her ear and glancing towards the looming skyscraper in the distance, Kairi wondered just how long the hearts had been waiting there, and if Riku's Keyblade could do anything for them.

The scepter that she carried in her heart glowed, almost reassuringly as the three islanders trudged through the dirty streets. There wasn't a soul around and the rain was pitter-pattering quietly onto roofs and awnings with no signs of stopping. It had turned Riku's silver hair a darker shade of grey and had sent Sora's spikes a-drooping. Kairi couldn't imagine what she looked like, though she suspected that 'drowned rat' might be an accurate descriptor.

They walked block upon block, but all of the buildings looked the same and the Tower didn't look any closer than it had been before. Kairi breathed in deeply, glancing around at the buildings, at how they all looked exactly the same.

"Are we even moving?" she asked suddenly, stopping and staring upward and into the rain. It was trailing from the sky slowly, dripping off of something that looked almost like spider threads. She blinked, squinting and tried to see if it was an illusion or not. But the longer Kairi watched them, the more they glistened into visibility.

Sora blinked at over at the girl, obviously befuddled. "We've been walking this whole time."

"It's an illusion," Kairi murmured reaching out and poking at the thin trails of magic – or whatever it was – floating in midair. They snapped at her, and the redhead quickly pulled her hand back, staring down at the steaming fingertips of her glove. But the image had shuddered, rippling at her touch.

Narrowing her eyes into blue slits, Kairi ignored the two boys behind her, bringing her hand up again. The scepter she had gotten from Mickey materialized into her grip and she touched the tip of it to the magic threads.

Akari was its name and light flared from the bulb at its tip, the image of the skyscrapers noticeably rippling. The illusion was weak and when Kairi pushed the tip of the scepter farther into the threads, softly whispering its name, they shattered away.

Sora blinked in shock at the change. While it was still raining and all of the buildings still looked the exactly same, everything seemed clearer. Like Kairi had cleaned a window that he hadn't realized was dirty in the first place.

"Wow, Kairi. I didn't even notice that," he admitted. "Good job." He patted her shoulder softly. She smiled at him, her scepter vanishing away into nothingness as she did so.

Riku, however, said nothing. He had, in fact, had stopped moving, glancing down the street like a hunted animal, eyes narrowing as the neon flickered ominously. Like he could hear something that the illusion had been hiding.

"_Nemo?_" he hissed.

"I don't think so," Sora replied before he could help himself. But wait – when had he started to understand those words? Not recognize them, but truly understand them? He blinked over at Riku, just missing the ghost of a smirk. Sora stared for a moment before tilting his head to the side and listening for trouble.

"What is it?" Kairi asked, blinking through the mist at something that she was blind to. She felt like they were being watched, that something was looming overheard, but it was more of a feeling. Nothing like the acute hearing of Riku or Sora.

"These streets are alive," Riku whispered in explanation, eyes darting across the asphalt in search of movement. The statement seemed absurd, but something in Kairi clearly believed it, her muscles tensing on their own accord. "They were watching us through that illusion. Measuring us up. And now there's something here – I can feel it."

"The Nobody?" the girl asked, the hair on the back of her neck rising at the thought. They still had such a long way to get to the TV Tower.

"No . . . it's too familiar," Sora replied, also watching the ground with an unnatural focus. His hand clutched at the air, looking for a weapon that had not yet been summoned. "But how could they be here? There shouldn't be any left . . ."

Kairi didn't get the opportunity to try and decipher the guarded words because at that moment the ground suddenly shifted, a vein of violet and silver flashing near Riku. The older boy jumped to the side as the shadows pulsed and the pavement flattened again.

Not a split second later electricity crackled through the air and the asphalt surged once more. Up from the shadows pushed a pair of lidless, butter eyes, shoulders twitching as the warped, humanoid form slid from the ground. Bent and jagged, more and more pushed themselves out of the shadows – amassing, watching, waiting.

"Are those-?" Kairi managed to choke out, shocked at how eerie it was to be instantly surrounded by dozens creatures that hadn't been there moments before. "Heartless?"

"Yeah . . . but I've never seen these particular Heartless before," Riku muttered, eyeing them with a frown.

"Neo-Shadows," was Sora's clipped reply.

"Oh, how appropriate," the older boy snarled wryly, eyes darting, trying to count the growing numbers. "They fit the part."

"Why are there Heartless here?" Kairi asked quietly, voice higher in pitch than usual. When Sora turned to look at her, he saw the white of her eyes, wide and terrified and a little overwhelmed. She was shaking her head from side to side, as if the motion itself would convince them more than her next words, "There shouldn't be any left."

"Why _are_ the Heartless here?" Sora asked. "Riku?"

"How should I know?" the older boy snapped, glaring darkly at the Neo-Shadows, sizing them up. It was hard to tell, but it looked like there were Shadows darting between their legs.

"Did they follow you?"

"No one _followed_ us," Riku hissed in response, turning his full attention to Sora as if the mere suggestion was an affront to his pride. "It didn't work that way."

"Then why are they here?"

"I don't know!"

"Shouldn't you?!"

"Sora, stop it," Kairi snapped abruptly, sending him a look. He blinked at her, glancing over at Riku and looking somewhat abashed.

Continuing in a softer voice, Sora asked, "You have no idea? None at all? Could they had learned from whatever it was that you and King Mickey did?"

"No. It didn't work-"

"Of course," Kairi murmured, voice muted by a sudden realization as the ground continued to throb and expand into an even bigger legion. "No, Sora. They didn't follow him. Because . . . a Heartless is a body without a heart. Sora, didn't you say that everyone who's been born in the last three years has been stillborn . . . because they never got a heart?"

"They're all children?" the brunette snapped, glancing at the writhing bodies, black as midnight.

"It seems that way," Riku quipped.

"But Sora, Riku . . . if there are both Nobodies and Heartless here . . . what happens if they meet up? They're two halves of a whole, but they can't become one, can they? What would happen?"

"I-I don't know." And Sora didn't know, wasn't sure if he wanted to know. He had the distinct feeling that it wouldn't be a good thing if the two met up. "But are there any here? Where are the Nobodies?"

"I don't know!" Riku called back. The Heartless shifted like they were one, flowing back and forth like an ocean of black. They sounded like leaves, dry and crackling underfoot, blowing in the breeze. "They should be here – I can feel them!"

"Are they watching us?" Kairi asked, voice strained. She couldn't see anything past the Heartless. "Was that them before? Are they still watching us now? Waiting to see what we'll do?"

Riku didn't respond, a sharp streak of silver and black flashing outward from him and a Heartless shrieking as it vanished into nothingness. In his hand was a sword – a long katana – the metal a dark charcoal, as sharp and hard as diamond. Arching across the blade a set of intricate patterns was burned into the steel, glowing a shade of silver that was so pure that it could have been white.

Kairi could feel it humming with power.

Sora's Keyblade sliced through a second daring Heartless, the white of Oathkeeper blazing brightly. The brunette turned to Kairi, his eyes strangely dark.

"Kairi!" Her name was like a command, and Akari flashed between her fingers at the sound of it, pulsing brightly. She could feel the scepter's power, burning strongly at the sight and sound of the Heartless chattering together.

They hissed at the scepter, their eyes narrowing just the slightest. Kairi was proud that she could even tell that they were disturbed, the horror pawing at her gut burning too much like acid now.

She hadn't imagined something like this. The idea of Heartless was less scary than actually facing them down. She glanced towards Riku and Sora – both stoic as they faced the enemy. What was it that made her think it would be a good idea to come with them?

Kairi shrieked as a Heartless pounced. It would have tackled her had Riku not dashed in the way, his sword slicing the creature in half. A pale pink heart floated up into the sky – something the Heartless had consumed in hopes of becoming whole.

"Calm down, Kairi," Riku said, voice clean and cold. She glanced towards him as he sliced his sword through another Heartless; protecting her.

"Yeah, Kairi!" Sora called from behind her, Keyblade gleaming strongly. He struck through one of the Neo-Shadows, darkness curling away into the twilight. "It's gonna be all right – just stay calm!"

"But-" Kairi trailed off. Terror choked her words as she looked out and saw the hundreds of Heartless amassing on the three of them. What kind of fight was this going to be? How could she stay calm? She wasn't even near qualified for this kind of thing.

'Why am I here?' she wanted to ask. 'Why did I come? What can I possibly do to help either of you?'

She had never been a fighter. On the islands, she had always opted out of fighting, preferring to watch and cheer as the others duked it out. Yes, she could do a little magic now, but magic wasn't necessarily fighting, and really, despite what she had told Sora, she hadn't ever really fought any Heartless. Kairi had seen Aerith fight them, but never anything as terrifying as the Neo-Shadows, whose very breath chilled her bones.

"I-" she tried again, catching the glance of Riku.

"What is it?" he asked, voice heavy. His sword danced through a group of Shadows like it was alive. He didn't have any qualm with protecting her yet again.

'But I don't want to be protected. I want to fight,' she continued silently, watching the two boys as they effortlessly cut through the Neo-Shadows. Akari grew warm in her palm. 'I want to fight! I don't want to sit on the sidelines again! I don't think I could stand that a second time! I don't want to be useless!'

"Thundaga!" she screamed, the spell vibrating electrically through the air. Akari burned white and a giant spiral of lightning arched down with a deafening crack, obliterating every Heartless within a three meter radius.

Riku blinked over at her with wide eyes, the green of his irises stark and bright.

"I can fight too. I'm going to fight too," she said to him, eyes hard like gems. The older boy nodded and out of the corner of her eye, Kairi caught a glimpse of a smile from Sora.

The Heartless didn't resume their attack immediately; rather, they stared and shifted their weight from foot to foot, their eyes glowing like fireflies. It was almost like they needed to reconsider their enemy. If Kairi had had more interaction with Heartless, she might have been more concerned at this group effort.

She didn't have a chance to say anything though, as the mass of Heartless pounced, like a giant black wave, separating the three islanders almost effortlessly. Kairi was swallowed in darkness, the only light that she could see being Akari, who was almost blinding in contrast.

Swinging the scepter around like a madwoman, Kairi cleared away the group of Heartless that was immediately around her, searching blindly for Riku and Sora.

Riku's sword was flashing through the twilight like a whip, the dark blade reflecting the neon streetlights like a mirror. It was strange sight to see, as any and all light seemed to be absorbed by the Heartless.

Kairi slammed her scepter through a Neo-Shadow, ignoring the outcome of her attack and searching for Sora. He wasn't difficult to locate. His Keyblade was clearly slicing through the Heartless – a sudden burst of pink and red hearts spiraling upward from his position. Sora roared a battle cry and the Neo-Shadows screamed at his attack, burning from a fire spell and cleaved by the Keyblade again and again.

But the harder Kairi tried to keep track of the two boys, the clearer it became that they were being pushed away from her. Soon enough, she could barely catch sight of where they were, too swarmed by Heartless to do anything about it.

'We're supposed to be a Trinity,' she thought blindly, trying to find any hint of light that wasn't coming from her or the glowing neon signs. 'How can we do that if we're separated?'

"Riku! Sora!" she cried as loud as she could as the wave of moving shadow pushed her farther and farther away.

"_Kairi!_" she heard Sora scream in response. Warmth flooded her and she would have been glad, but Kairi couldn't even tell where his voice was coming from anymore.

"Sora?" she yelled back, not sure if anyone could hear her in the uprising.

"Head to the TV Tower!" She thought that maybe it was Riku this time – but his voice was so warped under the rustle of the Heartless. "We'll meet at the Tower!"

"Okay!" Kairi yelled, trying to project her voice as much as possible. "Okay!"

She wanted to tell them to be careful, but wasn't sure if they would hear her, so she hoped that at least the thought projected to them.

The whole area was a mess of black and Kairi vaguely heard someone use a lightning spell – though she couldn't tell who – and was grateful as a stray bolt struck down several of the Heartless around. She quickly cast her own electricity spell to improve the odds.

"Thundaga!"

Lightning crackled around her satisfyingly and any Heartless in the vicinity disintegrated into a flash of nothingness. But more Heartless pounced forward, their faces shining in the rain.

"Get away from me!" the red-head screamed, slamming the end of her scepter through a Neo-Shadow, ripping through the torso and then across a small group of Shadows that had been crawling out of the asphalt. They shivered from the light's touch, keening before they were torn from the ground from the sheer force of her blow. "Sora! Riku! Where are you?!"

Kairi spun to the side and flipped the butt of her staff up into the face of a flailing Heartless, completely destroying it. However, in mid-spin, the girl's feet slid across the wet ground and she lost her balance, falling forward through cold bodies that only seemed to push her faster into the swarm of darkness.

She landed hard on her left arm, the bone cracking loudly and pulling a tight scream from her throat. Too focused on the sudden pain, Kairi never realized that Akari had been jarred her grip in the fall, and was slowly rolling to the side.

The girl clutched her arm before twisting sideways in a dizzying attempt to avoid the Heartless who had started to fight each other in their frenzy to reach her. But her vision was rimmed with black from the continuous pressure on her arm and she crawled up onto her knees at the first opportunity.

"Curaga," she coughed, rainwater tickling the back of her throat, directing the spell out through her fingers and into the shattered bones. She would have sighed in relief, but felt a cold hand reach out of the ground beside her and quickly rolled away into a crouch before it could get a feel of her heart. The Shadow hand merely ducked back into the earth for a later attack.

Ready to get back into action, Kairi swung upward from her crouch to obliterate a hovering Neo-Shadow with her scepter and finally noticed that the aforementioned weapon was not in her grip. Eyes widening, she quickly screeched out a time spell at the awaiting Heartless before leaping up and trying to find the white glow of Akari amidst all of the black heads.

A flood of uncharacteristic curses ran through her mind as she eyed the weapon lying a good fifteen meters away, a glowing white beacon in the distance. Taking off in a panicked sprint, the red-head plowed through the armada, bolting towards the weapon and thus drawing every stray Heartless' attention to her small form. Not that most of them weren't watching her anyway.

The redhead didn't know what had hit her under she was slammed backwards into the ground, breath escaping her lungs at the impact. A small group of Shadows who had strategically sprung from the ground before her. They crawled all across her sprawled body and as claws scraped across the surface of her heart, Kairi let lose yet another spell in frantic horror.

"Thundaga!"

The Heartless burst into screaming clouds of darkness and Kairi winced at the immediate lack of strength she felt. She was using up her magic capabilities too quickly; at this rate she only had two or three spells left in her and the scepter was still not nearly as close as she would have hoped.

It never even occurred to her to summon the weapon.

Hissing broke her from her thoughts as she quickly rolled to the side, nearly avoiding a clawed hand that rammed into the ground, cracking the pavement and sending water flying. But Heartless was quick and tackled her, looming over her with strangely empty eyes.

"Firaga!" she screamed in desperation, thrusting her right hand into the sleek face of the Neo-Shadow and flinging it away in a whirlwind of flame, the warmth of the fire caressing her slick fingers reassuringly.

Kairi sprang to her feet, only to be viciously yanked down by a Shadow half in the puddled ground, barely missing a flying attack in the process. Using her leg as leverage, the Heartless dug its claws into her flesh and ripped itself from the pavement before looking towards the girl with dead, yellow eyes. She kicked the creature in the head, sending it flying into a wall before directing a quick healing spell towards her bloody ankle and rolling to the side in order to avoid being smashed beneath another enemy.

The red-head glanced towards her right in the confusion, eyeing Akari lying barren and off to the side. It seemed that the Heartless were doing their best to both avoid it and keep the blue-eyed girl out its reach. But if she was to get out of this mess and meet up with Riku and Sora, she was going to need that weapon, if not a miracle.

With a battle cry, Kairi got in a crouch and leapt forward between the legs of a Neo-Shadow, rolling forward into a lopsided run as she tried to gain her balance and get as far away as possible at the same time. Time slowed at that moment as Kairi scrabbled across the slick asphalt, footsteps loud in her ears when the Heartless rounded about towards her in the chase.

It was only ten meters away . . . she had never heard so much pounding. The adrenaline was echoing through her mind dizzily . . . but there were only five meters.

. . . two . . .

The scepter was almost within reach when Kairi was tackled behind by a Shadow, cold fingers plunging through her skin and into her heart, wrenching at it lustfully.

The pounding died abruptly and girl choked from the sudden intrusion, her chest tightening painfully at the sensation of her heart getting ripped at. The feeling was so great she fell to her hands and knees and stared at the ground fuzzily, the focus on the pattering raindrops shifting into nothing but a confused mess that quickly rushed forward to meet her as she fell.

Dazedly, Kairi realized that this was the end, her consciousness was threatening to slip completely. But this wasn't as concerning as she thought it should be. Rather it was comforting, oddly familiar.

'Because I've done this before,' she thought, the vague memory of when she gave Sora her heart flashing behind her eyes. Yes, she had lost her heart, but she hadn't gone cold – Sora had taken good care of her, hadn't he?

And what more was there then the peace she felt looking out on what her fogged vision allowed her to see? It was like staring at the sky without a telescope – a fuzzy world of black dotted with golden stars darting across the sky's map.

But it felt so wrong.

How could there be stars when then had all blinked out? And how could this be a good thing if she felt so cold? It wasn't like this last time. Last time she had no choice. But now, there were things to do? Weren't there things that she needed to do?!

'_I'm always with you too. I'll come back to you. I promise!_'

The voice rang sharply through her head, sparking a new burst of determination with the memory. She couldn't leave Sora by himself – she couldn't leave Riku by himself!

With a small mewl, the red-head stretched out her hand towards the white blob in her peripheral vision, fingers closing around the familiar surface of her scepter and a warm light flowing down her veins, momentarily flushing everything out. Then as the world spun back into focus, time speeding up again, the red-head jerked the scepter back, ramming the butt into the Shadow on her back and obliterating it.

Breathing heavily Kairi reared around towards the enemy, who had paused in their movements, staring at her like tense animals as she brought the scepter up with flaming eyes. She whirled the staff around like it was an extension of herself, the weapon slamming into the Heartless effortlessly, evaporating them in swirls of darkness as they vanished into the twilight.

Akari spun in the darkened light like a white star, and Kairi, the flame behind that new life, burned in an adrenaline fueled fury, annihilating all shadows within sight. But as the darkness fled, so did the girl's light, and it faded out completely as all signs of the enemy disappeared.

Relying on the primal instincts, as not much else was left of her, Kairi stumbled backwards drunkenly and up against the wet brick of a building, leaning against it precariously, breathless and shaking with wide-eyes that saw nothing but a blur of neon and black.

Was _this_ what Sora and Riku had gone through?

She vaguely felt the scepter slip from her fingers to clatter hollowly against the ground and she followed it, collapsing to the ground in a pile of shivering nerves. She felt old and weak, all the adrenaline flushed from her veins, caving in on herself like a wilting flower with its petals dripping to the ground in a hurricane of glory.

She laughed, choking on sobs and wrapping her arms around her legs as if to ground herself. Kairi hugged them tightly and rocked back and forth, feeling more and more like the child she was as each second passed.

There was a new ache in her heart: cold and foreign and a little ripped. She wondered how close she had really been and then realized that it didn't matter anyway. What mattered was getting up again – but Kairi couldn't find the strength in herself to move.

'_Be careful that your heart doesn't betray you._'

Just what had King Mickey meant by that?

**To be continued . . .**

Hmm, hmm, hmm . . . but what of Riku and Sora? Are they lost and fighting within this mysterious city? Oh, no, whatever will happen to them? Next time, children, next time. :D Also, since this was based before CoM of KHII, yes, this is Deep Dive world (I can't remember what it's call) and yes . . . I am calling it Twilight Town in this fic . . . so there. Yay for artistic license!

But yeah . . . I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter. I've just realized how different my fic is from everything else. It seems that there aren't many epic KH fics around anymore (unless I'm blind), in fact, it's interesting, the direction that the Kingdom Hearts fandom has gone. At least, from what I've seen - a lot of it scares me and I don't have the ambition to hunt through the masses to find good fic anymore. Does anyone want to recommend something? I don't know . . . wow, I've digressed and gotten whiney, so I'll stop now.

Rightio - please make my day and review! Comments, questions, critique - it's all good. Also, please you guys, you have to tell me if this chapter is any good . . . I'm not entirely sure if I can write battle scenes as I've never really done them before. I'm afraid it's a little wordy. Ugh. So yeah, help, maybe? Or not?

As always, go read my other KH fic, Yellow Coats, because I love it and it will never stop being my baby.

To my lovely reviewers . . . why are you so amazing? You guys equal love!  
**Kanashimi.SAdNeSs:** Thank you:D It's good to hear that someone likes how I write the infamous trio - I'm always wondering whether I'm doing them right or not . . . of course, Disney people are worse, so I shouldn't complain. XD  
**Lapse - Raevn:** Yes . . . Mickey had to go . . . because I hate writing his dialogue (selfish plot twist). Well, there's more to it than that, but whatever. But yeah, actually the language I'm using is Latin and the random Riku babble translates roughly to complete nonsense, or "I carry a heart locked up against my will, but a golden key opens any door." It has nothing to do with the scene, but I enjoyed it. Anyway, thank you for your review!  
**IrishPotatoes:** Yeah, I like the Sora/Riku/Kairi group better too . . . they're easier to write than the Disney characters (who make me paranoid because their dialogue is so difficult for some reason). Of course, the group is now split up . . . so we'll have to see how well that goes down. XD  
**RcA:** Aww, you're not terrible with feedback! It actually just nice to hear from someone instead of watching the hit counter. But yes, so thank you very much for commenting in the first place:D  
**Reiko x 3:** Well, I know that you reviewed quite a while ago, but I hope you got over being sick quickly. :D Sadly there isn't too much Riku torture in this chapter (as you probably could already tell, this was Kairi's time to shine) . . . but he'll show up and angst-ify next time.


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